The Brookings Register
BROOKINGS — While Brookings County certainly isn’t crime-free, the data shows it’s a low-crime place to live.
That was the word from State’s Attorney Dan Nelson, whose …
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BROOKINGS — While Brookings County certainly isn’t crime-free, the data shows it’s a low-crime place to live.
That was the word from State’s Attorney Dan Nelson, whose presentation at Tuesday’s county commission meeting offered insights into the county’s crime statistics in 2024. Basically, unless you’re Walmart, you can pretty much rest easy at night and, well, any other time as well.
“Brookings County remains the safest in South Dakota and our office and law enforcement work hard to ensure it remains that way,” Nelson told the Brookings Register. “Whether it’s holding violent offenders accountable or giving a second chance to individuals in our various diversion programs, the State’s Attorney Office maintains a balanced approach to prosecution.”
He added, “No major change in crime trends stand out from last year and we’re steadfast in confronting the areas of ongoing concern like meth use, DUIs, and domestic violence.”
Nelson included specific categories, each containing a line-by-line breakdown of convictions that his office obtained. The big one, of course, was felonies: There were 104 convictions in 2024, compared to 129 in 2023. Similar totals were reported in 2022 and 2021, with 128 and 135 convictions, respectively. In 2020, Nelson’s office had 190 felony convictions, so the trend in subsequent years has been toward a decrease.
That said, he did draw some attention to one category in particular — abuse or cruelty to a minor as a felony. There were eight convictions there, compared to five in 2023, eight in 2022, two in 2021 and three in 2020.
“Most of those child abuse convictions … a lot of that has to do with child passengers in a DUI case,” Nelson told commissioners. “I prosecute that as felony child abuse. If you’re operating a vehicle under the influence and you have a passenger with you that’s a minor, that’s prosecuted as a felony. So that’s part of a large proportion of those eight convictions.”
Nelson said DUIs were the primary component of these convictions, with 227 in all. — a decrease from 242 in 2023. Other years included 258 convictions in 2022, 282 in 2021 and 240 in 2020.
Those numbers do not include felony DUI convictions — third, fourth and fifth offenses — of which there were 12 in 2024, a decrease from 27 in 2023. Numbers in 2022 were 18, while 28 were reported in 2021 and 18 in 2020.
He also pointed out that marijuana convictions have declined in Brookings County.
“A lot of that has to do with diversion programs that we have here in the county,” Nelson said. “So if you’re cited for marijuana offenses, you’re coming in as a first-time offender. A lot of that is referred to our diversion program. So if you’re successful, we don’t count that as a conviction, so that’s the drop off there.”
Altogether, there were 509 Class 1 misdemeanor convictions last year. In 2023, there were 505, with, respectively, 535, 532 and 617 in 2022, 2021 and 2020.
The primary offense here, Nelson said, was no insurance, with 102 convictions in 2024. In 2023, there were only 61 convictions, with similar numbers in years prior to that: 64 in 2022, 55 in 2021 and 49 in 2020.
He also noted that the underage consumption/possession category — with 72 convictions in 2024 — is populated by people who chose not to take part in a diversion program. Still, it’s a decrease from the 93 convictions in 2023. Prior to that, there were 81 convictions in 2020, 87 in 2021 and 62 in 2022.
Beyond that, he said incidents of theft increased noticeably. There were 77 convictions for theft or attempted theft in the county in 2024, a big jump from the 36 convictions in 2023. In 2022, there were 26 convictions, 20 in 2021 and 28 in 2020.
“Most of the shoplifting that we prosecute in Brookings County stems from Walmart,” Nelson said. “Walmart’s our biggest victim as it relates to shoplifting, and so a lot of those theft convictions that you see there are reported out of Walmart, and they work pretty closely, obviously, with the Brookings Police Department in that regard.”
Overall, Nelson’s office had 503 Class 2 misdemeanor convictions in 2024, an increase from 2023’s total of 434 convictions. Altogether, this total has consistently risen year over year, with 336 convictions in 2020, 371 in 2021 and 397 in 2022.
Another category Nelson provided numbers for was specific to domestic violence-related aggravated assault, simple assault and disorderly conduct convictions.
He described 2024 as “down from years past, but up from last year,” with 35 convictions last year compared to 25 convictions in 2023. Both numbers are far below convictions from 2020 through 2022, with 62, 64 and 53 cases respectively.
Nelson’s full report can be read at https://shorturl.at/ZJTkQ.
— Contact Mondell Keck at mkeck@brookingsregister.com.