Pictured are Governor Greg Gianforte (L), Dennis Bear Don’t Walk, Member of the Crow Nation, Barry Usher, State Representative, Bryan Lockerby, Director of Crime Investigation, during a roundtable discussion about crime held in Billings last week.
With the next state legislative session looming on the horizon, one of the biggest issues before it will surely be the issue of crime, which is especially true for Yellowstone County and Billings where crime has been escalating at a faster pace than the rest of the state.
To explore the issues involved and to identify potential solutions was part of the reason for a round-table discussion held by Governor Greg Gianforte with local civic leaders last Friday.
As a dozen or so experts in the judicial system spoke about the problems they see, there emerged a picture that most of the problems that must be addressed exist on the front end of the process. All the other problems pertaining to delays in processing, a system overwhelmed by sheer numbers, reducing recidivism and providing rehabilitation would be far less if programs and processes are in place to keep offenders out of the system.
Underscoring the validity of that conclusion was a statement from Sheriff Mike Linder claiming that about 75 percent of the offenders in the jail are the consequences of mental health issues.
County Attorney Scott Twito reinforced the position even more in stating that the best solution is to be able to divert offenders away from the system and into treatment. A tactic he said he hopes to focus his efforts on achieving during the next state legislative session.
After listening to explanations given by law enforcement, attorneys and judges, Gov. Gianforte summed up that while there is a capacity problem, yet it is that 75 percent are actually mental health cases where early intervention could help in circumventing many of the problems.
Gov. Gianforte said that they are not waiting for the state legislature, nor in any way are they “sitting idly by.” “We’re taking action, investing more than $2.3 million to complement local public safety efforts in Billings and Yellowstone County.” The funds were announced in November and come from the ARPA federal funds issued to the state. Much of that funding is going to the Public Defenders’ Office to boost staffing. As Billings Mayor Bill Cole pointed out during the meeting this has been one of the issues identified as contributing to the bottleneck within the system.
The Governor said that he recognized that “Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in drug-related and violent crime nationwide… . These crimes threaten public safety, leave victims and their families traumatized, and leave people wondering if they’re safe.”
Dovetailing with issues of safety, Commissioner Denis Pitman pointed out the impact that safety worries has on the local economy. Not having people in jail who should be there creates public concern about whether it is safe to go shopping, he said, and people wonder if it isn’t safer to shop on-line, undermining local retail businesses.
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