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Onalaska has seen a 6 percent increase in major crimes in the first six months of 2008 compared to the same time period of 2007. Statistics indicate some significant percentage changes in crimes and arrests in Onalaska.
For the first six months of 2008, there were 273 reports in major crime categories of homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, theft and motor vehicle theft, while there were 257 in the same period of 2007.
Burglary and aggravated assault were down 20 percent and 3 percent, respectively.
Arrests for the same categories of crimes were up 24 percent, with 181 in 2008 compared with 146 in 2007.
Thefts increased from 197 to 220, up 12 percent for the first six months of the year over the same period last year.
Most of the thefts occurred in retail establishments. There were 143 incidents of retail theft for the first six months of 2008 compared with 83 in 2007, a 72 percent increase.
Thefts from autos decreased 14 percent. Thefts of autos were at the same rate as last year, four in the first six months of 2008 as well as the first six months of 2007.
The significant finding is a rise in juvenile involvement in crimes. In Onalaska, total arrests of juveniles for major crime categories (homicide, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, theft and motor vehicle theft) went up from 34 for the first six months of 2007 to 50 for the first six months of 2008, an increase of 47 percent.
During the same time, total adult arrests for the same categories increased 17 percent, from 112 in 2007 to 131 in 2008.
The largest increase occurred in the theft category. Juvenile arrests for theft in Onalaska went from 22 to 46, up 109 percent, while adult arrests increased 21 percent; 105 arrests of adults for theft in the first six months of 2008 compared to 87 in 2007.
Sergeant Knute Aasen of the Onalaska Police Department said that a jump in small numbers in a small community could look like a huge increase percentage-wise. “With small numbers for a community, it’s somewhat intangible (and harder) to really get a specific feel for crime trends,” Aasen said.
Regardless, Aasen said, the increase could be attributed to a number of things. “The increase can be due to changes in how retailers are handling theft in their stores,” Aasen said. “There could be changes in store policies. We’ve seen some stores drop charges or don’t pursue charges. They could be improving their surveillance techniques with better technology. There might be different personnel with different monitoring skills.”
Interim Police Chief Tim Hauser didn’t see any specific trends either. “It might be the state of the economy that’s behind the spike in juvenile arrests for theft,” Hauser said. “Or it could be stores have upgraded their surveillance cameras, etc.”
Aasen also said he really didn’t see anything that indicates a trend to him. “I’m not aware of anything specific to do with juvenile arrests,” Aasen said. “I’m not aware of any new trends in any specific crime areas with juveniles.”
Another area where juveniles have been increasingly involved is in criminal damage to property. Although small in numbers — seven in the first six months of 2008 compared to four in the same period 2007 — that is a 75-percent increase.
Juvenile involvement with weapons, sex offenses and disorderly conduct went down 66 percent, 33 percent and 10 percent, respectively.
Drug offenses by juveniles went down 15 percent while drug offenses among adults went up almost 48 percent.
Liquor violations among juveniles went up almost 29 percent. At the same time, violations of liquor laws among adults went up 27 percent.
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