Peeper plagues Crestview

By MIKE RICHESON

Bigfork Eagle

A Peeping Tom plaguing the Crestview neighborhood has become such a pest that the families in the area held a meeting to figure out how to stop him.

On Jan. 23, sheriff’s deputy Jordan White gave a presentation at the LDS church on how the community can protect itself against this and future crimes.

The peeping problem began last summer when a Crestview resident saw a tall man snooping around his neighbor’s window. Although police officers came out, response times to the Bigfork area are generally slow and no arrests were made.

In early December, the police were called again for the same reason. On Christmas night, the perpetrator struck again, this time at Kevin and Jenna Barrows’ house. Their neighbor, Mike Markovich, was alerted by his wife that someone was standing on the Barrows’ air conditioning unit and looking into the bathroom window.

Markovich went outside and yelled at the man, and the suspect ran away.

Others in the neighborhood have reported finding objects stacked under their windows, and a 4-year-old saw a man look into his window one night.

The Barrows sponsored the meeting, and deputy Jordan White - who grew up in Bigfork and now lives near Echo Lake - taught more than 70 people about law enforcement, about common laws that affect neighborhoods and about how to team up with the law to bring about positive results.

White stated that although the call load for deputies has doubled in the last eight years, the county still employs the same number of officers - 50. That means deputies are outnumbered 1,000 to 1.

Due to the size of Flathead County, response times to many areas can be slow.

“People think it takes a long time to get to Bigfork - you should see how long it takes to get to Polebridge,” White joked.

Although officers might not be able to get to Bigfork quickly, statistics show that when the interaction between citizens and law enforcement increases, the results are positive.

The age of neighborhood beat cops are long gone, but if citizens can gather the right information, officers can link criminals to numerous past crimes more effectively.

“Society often doesn’t know what the courts need to prosecute crimes,” White said.

Being able to give as many details about any incident is key to making charges stick. When calling dispatch, be able to give as much information about the Who, What, When and Where as possible. Dispatchers will also commonly ask if any injuries have occurred or if weapons are involved, either by the perpetrator or someone on the defense.

“Describe the person as much as you can,” White said.

And if someone you know decides to go after the criminal, be able to describe him or her as well. This way, officers can differentiate between the “good guy” and the “bad guy.”

During the question and answer period, the question on everybody’s mind came up: Can a person detain a criminal such as a Peeping Tom, and how much force is acceptable to keep him until the police arrive?

“You can chase, catch and perform a citizen’s arrest and use as much force as is legal,” White said.

Although the deputy cautioned anyone trying to chase down a suspected criminal, he said he understood the reality that most men won’t react positively if someone spies on his wife.

Citizens can use rope, duct tape, zip ties, etc., to detain a suspect, but they must immediately call the police, and the force can’t be more that what is required to affect the arrest. Beating a compliant suspect is illegal.

Little detail is available about the suspect, although residents say he is tall and thin and probably in his early 20s. Witnesses say they’ve also seen him walking around in camouflage.