SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Figures through the end of August show Sioux Falls police officers are responding to more calls, which city officials say is expected with a growing city. Major crimes, like aggravated assaults and robberies, are down slightly from last year. Homicides are up from last year, but similar to 2020 and 2022. It may be too soon to see if the city’s campaign to get people to lock their cars is working. However, with 950 stolen vehicles so far this year, there has been a nearly 10 percent drop from last year. Assistant Chief Nick Cook says stolen vehicles can often be connected to other crimes.
“We jump back to the violent crimes we were talking about earlier, with aggravated assaults, you know probably, 70, I’m just throwing a number out there, 60 to 70 percent are using stolen cars to commit these other violent acts because it conceals their identity by not using their own vehicle so keep up the good work in the community lock your doors, don’t make it easy for people to steal your car,” said Cook.
Street racing appears to be a growing threat to safety in Sioux Falls. Minnehaha County States Attorney Daniel Haggar says they plan to go to the legislature for tougher laws.
“We’ve worked with the Chief , the Mayor, the Sheriff. We are crafting right now legislation right now to target some of that reckless driving, that racing, that behavior that is really dangerous on our streets,” said Haggar.
When it comes to the crime numbers as a whole, the mayor says in his eyes the crimes per capita tell the story
“If that 4 to 5 violent crimes per capita was 6,7,8,9 over the last five years, we would have a very different briefing today that we would have to be talking about so, data the data tells us it is still a very safe and livable community,” said TenHaken.
