BILLINGS- The recent release of the newest integrity report from the Montana Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) Council is giving Montanans a peek at recent allegations against Montana public safety officers in Montana.
Located in Helena, POST trains and certifies dozens of Montana officers, including police, dispatcher and corrections officers every year.
This latest report covers October 2021 to August 2023 and includes investigations of drinking and driving offenses, inappropriate sexual behavior, excessive force and ethics violations.
The report is released every two years, giving a summary of conduct investigations that ultimately cost officers their certification or placed them on a suspension or probation. Many officers remained on the job.
Timothy Allred, the executive director of POST, says this report is 15 pages long and includes summaries of 84 incidents, which contains descriptions but does not identify individual officers or agencies.
One incident involved a peace officer using unjustified force against a female—dragging her across a snowy parking lot by her handcuffs. Another was a detention officer allowing inmates contact with other inmates allowing contraband in his presence and falling asleep on duty.
“They are serious, and they are alarming,” he said.
So serious, he said, that each complaint has already been investigated to the fullest by the time it reaches the integrity report document.
In another incident, a Billings police officer engaged in sexual intercourse with a coworker during a ride-along, the report says, even doing so on an elementary school property. That officer had agreed to a five-year probation.
In another incident, a chief of police consumed nine alcoholic beverages during his lunch hour, then drove his patrol car back to the department.
Allred says by the time it lands in the POST integrity report, it’s already been through a very thorough process.
The process is intense, involving a 13-person council, where interviews are conducted with the officer and their agency. The officer is given time to respond to the allegations and often that’s sorted through probation or suspension.
Allred says when the officer doesn’t respond, their license to police in Montana is pulled.
Many times, it’s the agency sending in the complaint or allegation toward the officer, sometimes it’s also from a member of the public.
“It shows the accountability and the transparency that POST has,” said Allred
Allred says POST is a small agency, made up of just four employees, but that doesn’t stop them from investigating each case fully and concluding agreed upon by all parties.
“POST is a very small agency but has such a huge impact in the state of Montana,” he said.
Allred put these complaints into perspective, saying the officers investigated or who lose their certification is a small percentage.
“So out of those almost 6,000 public safety officers, we only received complaints of about 2 percent all year,” he said. “And out of that 2 percent, only 1 percent will move to the part where we open an investigation.”
At POST, Allred says they receive roughly 119,000 hours of training. But POST takes the allegations seriously because they involve the reputation of Montana law enforcement.
“There are repercussions for individuals that violate any grounds of sanctions a code of ethics, use of force... and there is a way that we work with officers,” he said.
The POST integrity report is a process aimed at holding law enforcement accountable, even though many know little about it.
