Is Missoula The Crime Capitol Of Western Montana?

by Travis Mateer

On Saturday I walked with my little girl to the river, but we didn’t stay long. Why? Because, in broad daylight, a woman had JUST had her car window smashed and purse stolen. She was on the phone and nearly hysterical as she told us about the young dude in red she saw lurking in the parking lot.

The previous day, Friday, a shooting occurred at the Sha-Ron river access spot. Here’s the worthless news article about the gun incident with the boilerplate response from our worthless Sheriff’s Office that there’s no risk to public safety.

The Missoula County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a gunshot incident Friday near the Sha-Ron Fishing Access in East Missoula.

According to a press release, deputies responded around 4 p.m. for a report of a gunshot wound. When authorities arrived they found one person injured.

That person was transported to a local hospital, but the current medical condition of this individual is not known at this time.

The Sheriff’s Office is asking the public to avoid the area if possible as they investigate this incident. 

There is no risk to the public.

Actually, Sheriff’s Office, the risk to the public is YOU and the joke of a criminal justice system we have with our activist Municipal judges and all the other jokers involved in this stupid fucking charade.

Another article at KPAX describes the doubling of shoplifting incidents since 2020. From the link:

The Montana Board of Crime Control collects data from the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office and the Missoula Police Department on various reported property crimes, including theft from a motor vehicle, theft from a building and shoplifting.

The numbers include data both from the City of Missoula and Missoula County, but most of the shoplifting crime happens within city limits, according to Missoula County Attorney, Matt Jennings.

The recent Board of Crime Control data shows there were 600 shoplifting reports in Missoula in 2020 and 1185 reports in 2023.

The Board of Crime Control says the numbers for 2023 are likely underestimated, as they were not updated past November.

In the article I wrote for Western Montana News last week, I highlighted a quote from an article about Thompson Falls and the growing pains they are experiencing. Here’s the quote (emphasis mine):

Heather Berman, Sanders County Resource Advisory Committee coordinator, said there’s no plan for development on the public land known as Mule Pasture, a common concern spread within the group. Berman said there’s been misinformation about the property.

In some ways, this opposition can be traced to a worry of irresponsible growth.

“For me, I know where I came from. I watched our town explode and change into a place that you didn’t recognize,” Wing said. “Missoula. Look at Missoula. There’s crime. There’s gangs. There’s all kinds of things happening.”

Yes, Heather, it’s true, and there’s one main political party in Missoula we can thank for turning this town into an epicenter for crime, and one of those worthless politicians was filming a political ad on the lawn of the Missoula County Courthouse yesterday.

Would it be better with Republicans running this town? No, the Republicans in Missoula are equally pathetic, as evidenced by the candidate they put forward for Mayor a few election cycles ago, Jacob Elder.

I retweeted something from Elder yesterday because I think his antics are still newsworthy, and instead of responding on his social media, he started texting me. Here’s the tweet:

And here’s some of the texts I got for the offense of retweeting this former Mayoral candidate:

For additional context on this black refugee the Missoula Republicans used to troll our former Mayor, John Engen, with, here’s an article about the law school debacle Elder was a part of:

In July 2020, UM hired Grand River Solutions, a private firm based in California, and paid them more than $73,000 to investigate a series of Title IX complaints out of the UM law school. The complaints included retaliation allegations against the dean and associate dean of students and sexual assault and retaliation allegations against Elder.

UM earlier said the firm’s investigation found Kirgis and Weaver did not retaliate. In June, Elder said on social media the investigation cleared him; he had described the allegations to the Daily Montanan as sexual assault and being a sexual predator. Elder has not been charged with any crime. 

But law student Jennifer Robichaud, a complainant who had alleged retaliation by the deans and by Elder, appealed the findings of Grand River Solutions. Robichaud declined to comment on the appeal committee’s decision, but she confirmed she plans to file a case with the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education.

The following year Elder faced even more legal problems after being issued a no-contact order by his baby-mama, so I take threats from this asshole pretty seriously after covering his joke of a campaign, which you can read more about with these posts:

Zoom Town: A Conversation with Mayoral Candidate Jacob Elder (March 23rd, 2021)

Missoula Needs Another Mayoral Candidate Because Jacob Elder’s Campaign Just Imploded This Week (May 16th, 2021)

Examining The Claim That Mayoral Candidate Jacob Elder Is An Agent Of Change (August 1st, 2021)

In summary, I think it’s safe to say that Missoula is DEFINITELY the crime capitol of Western Montana, and it takes a bipartisan effort to suck this bad at dealing with it.

If you appreciate my perspective, consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). Any little bit helps.

Thanks for reading!