BROOKINGS – Brookings County State’s Attorney Abigail Howard and Chief Deputy State’s Attorney Teree Nesvold presented the annual list of crime statistics for 2016 to the Brookings County Commission, putting numbers to what county officials have heard often this last year: felonies are on the rise, and drug-related crimes are the chief issue of concern.

Felony convictions are at an all-time high: 245 in 2016. That’s 97 more felonies than there were the year before that. It’s been a steady increase since the first year listed, 2012 (115), and it’s put pressure not only the Brookings County Detention Center, but on the state’s attorney’s office as well.

“What that means is significantly more work,” Howard said. “A felony file is a more complex file; it’s a defendant who’s facing much more serious charges and consequences, so it takes that much more work for our office. And we’re not seeing those stopping any time soon.”

A lot of the increase in felonies is tied to the county’s ongoing drug problem.

Overall drug crimes went up from 270 in 2015 to 309 last year. This is even though misdemeanor drug crimes went down from 220 to 177; felony drug crimes more than made up for that drop off, going from 63 in 2015 to 132 in 2016.

Starting with 2012, each year listed showed an increase in felony drug convictions. In 2012, there were only 29 felony drug convictions.

“We have officers that are delegated to just narcotics and they work nonstop, but it is something we have a problem with in South Dakota. We usually are able to track down the local dealers, but the users are something that’s just never ending,” Howard said.

Felony DWIs were more of a problem last year than they had been since 2012, according to the county’s stats. There were 21 felony DWI convictions in 2016, following the upward trend since 2013, when there were only 11.

Underage consumption and/or possession of alcohol increased to 432 convictions, more than the previous year’s low of 365, but it was still a far cry from 2012’s 587 convictions, the highest point of the past five years.

Domestic assaults also were on the rise, from 2015’s 47 to 2016’s 62, featuring more convictions for both simple assaults and disorderly conduct.

“Domestic violence is always an ongoing issue. I continue to work with the Eastern Plains Sexual Assault Response Team, which the shelter is involved with as well. … It’s something that’s not declining right now; that is an area in our community where we do need some work and we need some help,” Howard said.

Felony assaults on law enforcement officers went back to normal levels after a spike in 2015 (2012: four; 2013: one; 2014: three; 2015: 10; 2016: two).

Last year, there weren’t any jury trials. Howard did, however, anticipate several jury trials this year, saying she’s confident three will come up in the next few months.

Presenting on juvenile crime stats, Nesvold said sexual crimes are more of a problem than ever for county youths, with five juveniles convicted for first-degree rape, two for second-degree rape and one for third-degree rape.

Then there were 12 cases of sexting, nine cases of sexual contact with children younger than 16 years old and two cases of sexual contact without consent.

Just as more adults in Brookings struggle with drugs, so are juveniles – “Even in the middle school,” according to Nesvold.

There were 12 juveniles slapped with a misdemeanor possession of marijuana, 16 with use or possession of drug paraphernalia, and 10 for ingesting a substance other than alcohol to become intoxicated.

There were also nine more simple assaults, often attacks on their parents.

Animal cruelty is a new felony for juveniles, and 2016 wasn’t a good start for this new category with 18 counts of felony cruelty to animals.

Truancy is still an issue, with 44 juvenile citations issued in 2016.

Outside of actual crime, one big change in 2016 was the implementation of Marsy’s Law, which expanded victim’s rights in the state as of November 2016. As Howard explained, under the new law, her office is prompted to take greater strides to reach out to an expanded notion of who or what entity that might be the victim of a crime.

Most of the extra work involved with Marsy’s Law is outreach and communicating with these potential victims, with Howard implementing her own policy on how to go about this.

“It’s a written policy that I’ve structured and requires how our notifications are handled – some via call, some via letter, some via personal contact. I’ve also structured a waiver system for those entities or victims that wish to waive their rights under Marsy’s Law,” she said.

Other state’s attorneys have sought guidance on Marsy’s Law policies and have turned to Howard as a resource on how to go about it.

The impact on the county has been significant. Under Marsy’s Law, there have been 392 reported victims since implementation up until March 1, 2017.

The staff member who handles Marsy’s Law notifications and communications spends about 20-30 minutes with each of those victims, including phone calls, paperwork and office visits.

Contact Eric Sandbulte at esandbulte@brookingsregister.com.