January 11, 2022
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Butte Law Enforcement Office makes changes to cover patrols - NBC Montana

Lester noted that right now, they need to use traffic safety officers to assist in patrols and respond to emergency situations because they do not have enough staff.
Lester noted that right now, they need to use traffic safety officers to assist in patrols and respond to emergency situations because they do not have enough staff.

BUTTE, Mont. — Butte Sheriff Ed Lester said Tuesday that multiple officers were lost last year due to a number of reasons.

Some retired, but others found the job market to be fruitful and left to pursue other career opportunities.

“We had a couple join a transport company," Lester said. "We've had one join the military; we've had a couple take security jobs. So there's just a number of different places they're going. But unfortunately, it's leaving our patrol division a little short."

That's why they are now being forced to shuffle around the shifts as patrol functions are seen as the highest priority.

"We'll never compromise our patrol function as far as responding to emergency situations or accidents or whatever the public needs us to respond to," said Lester.

We looked at the schedule and had Lester break it down for us.

"We were on three shifts of nine hours each with three different crews," he explained. "Now, we're going to run just two (12-hour) shifts ... and the manpower is increased by going to that schedule.”

Butte Law Enforcement is currently looking to hire five more officers, but Lester says finding those who are properly trained and have been through academy proves a challenge.

For now, all they can do is continue trying to hire more officers while using the staff they have to make up for the missing departments.

"We normally have two officers that focus on traffic enforcement, traffic safety," said Lester. "So those guys have been assigned to patrol -- now, they can still go out and do the traffic enforcement, but they're also going to be responding to emergencies and other calls for service that they normally wouldn't be.”

Lester said this decision came out of the Butte Police Protective Association -- basically, a police union.

They have already discussed other possibilities in case employee numbers continue to drop. One solution could involve moving officers from investigations to patrols, but the sheriff calls that a last resort.



source: https://nbcmontana.com/news/working-for-you/butte-law-enforcement-officer-makes-changes-to-insure-patrols

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