Meth, bikers, video lootery likely driving Rapid City's violent crime surge

Most, if not all, meth in South Dakota is trafficked by white Trump-worshiping motorcycle gangs. These hordes are essentially domestic terrorists operating with the blessings of the prison/industrial complex where the tribal nations trapped in South Dakota are among the victims and meth is just another tool of genocide. 

But, a red moocher state like South Dakota is powered by sin: video lootery and a too-big-to-jail banking racket fill in the gaps created by lobbyists who enjoy the protection of single-party tyranny. Desperate to pay off those who benefit the entrenched Republican establishment criminals can expect to have champions sitting as governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. So packs of armed men with mental illnesses and addictions to meth power their way into western South Dakota every year; and, an accepted outlaw biker culture routinely trafficks illicit behaviors that would otherwise be subject to legal interdiction. 

Despite lies from the South Dakota Republican Party video lootery, suicide, domestic violence and homelessness are inextricably linked putting children at risk to more catastrophic consequences far more often than has happened in states that have legalized or lessened penalties for casual use of cannabis. 

In 2018 it was determined that the annual criminal costs of video lootery in South Dakota have soared to $42 million and the social costs an estimated $62 million. $9 million were lost because state and local sales taxes weren’t collected. When video lootery began in 1986 104 charges were filed for robbery, grand theft and aggravated theft. There were 1,037 cases in 1990 and in 2017 they went past 4,000 yet South Dakota continues to raise revenues off those least able to pay. 

The reasoning is hardly mysterious: it's all about the money prostitution, the Sturgis Rally, policing for profit, sex trafficking, hunting and subsidized grazing bring to the SDGOP destroying lives, depleting watersheds and smothering habitat under single-party rule. 

Labeling video [lootery] a scourge on South Dakota that has led to increased social ills, District 30 Rep. Tim Goodwin also said state government had grown addicted to the revenue. [Rapid City Journal]

The Rapid City Police Department reports that 2020 was marked again by overwhelming challenges to the law enforcement industry and an overall increase in what it calls "crimes of opportunity." 

Homicide – 100% increase

Robbery – 48.6% increase

Motor Vehicle Theft – 43.6% increase

Burglary – 39.1% increase

Aggravated Assault – 29.5% increase

While it’s difficult to pinpoint a specific cause for the dramatic increase in homicides, it’s important to know that in all cases from 2020 in which the suspect has been arrested, there was an existing relationship between the suspect and the victim. In the vast majority of these murder cases, police have identified a nexus with illegal drug use. [RCPD releases 2020 annual crime statistics]