Crimes are down, but robbery uptick concerns Edmiston
By Terry Murry on Tuesday, November 9th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
HERMISTON – Major crimes are down 14 percent in Hermiston for the third quarter of 2021. While that’s good news, Chief Jason Edmiston said he remains concerned in an uptick in robberies.
“There are some things in there that have increased since last year, and that’s purely from people having been indoors more last year than in 2021,” he said.
One example of that is a 67 percent increase in robbery. Originally, the chief thought those could have been thefts that were upgraded due to the use of force, which elevates that crime to robbery.
“Ironically, out of the 10 we had none of them were that,” he said. “Of the 10, six involved firearms, two involved a knife, one involved a metal rod, and one was just a threat to use a weapon.”
Edmiston said the trend toward violence is concerning.
“We have been experiencing people that are acting out more, either due to self-induced controlled substances or having some sort of mental crisis perhaps in conjunction with controlled substances,” he said.
Hermiston experienced the same number of murders (2) so far this year when compared to the same period of last year. It also saw one less rape, down to six from seven in 2020.
