Billings Police Department

Recent Posts

From Missoula, an in-the-trenches look at homelessness

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Camp

My name is Travis Mateer and for the past seven years I’ve worked at the Poverello Center, an emergency shelter and soup kitchen in Missoula. When I started at “the Pov” in 2008, our nation’s economy wasn’t doing so well. The unsound lending practices of the big banks resulted in a housing bubble that caused significant economic misery when it burst. Ripple effects, like a decreased demand for timber, closed local mills and put people out of work. Shelters across the country struggled to meet the increased need. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Montana, Billings Police Department, Downtown Billings Alliance, homelessness, Joel Simpson, Lisa Harmon, Matt Lennick, Missoula

Well, that car is definitely stopped

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Wreck

I’m afraid I don’t have any actual news on this, but I thought the photo was interesting enough on its own. I mean, whatever else the driver may have done wrong, he or she did stop, right? This was at Seventh Street West and Cook Avenue about 4:30 p.m. Monday. The strange thing is, I had been driving past the area around Eighth and Cook half an hour earlier and saw a firetruck and police car with lights flashing. There appeared to have been two cars involved in an accident there, and a woman was being taken away on a gurney. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Billings Gazette, Billings Police Department, Car wrecks

Cops, community getting a handle on downtown Billings

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Coppers

At this time of year in downtown Billings, Matt Lennick’s phone should be ringing a lot more than it has been. Lennick, a downtown resource officer who works for the Police Department but whose pay is covered by a special tax on downtown property owners, said he’s still waiting to see statistical comparisons between this year and last, but this year sure feels different. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Billings, Billings Police Department, Community Innovations Summit, Downtown Billings Alliance, Joel Simpson, Matt Lennick, Rich St. John, Tony Nichols

Billings cop investigated for fight with Laurel officer

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Paul

KTVQ is reporting that a Billings police officer is being investigated over a physical altercation he reportedly got into with a fellow officer from Laurel. The story said Paul LaMantia, a 6-year veteran “with a growing disciplinary file,” is under investigation for a “dispute” that resulted in extensive injuries to Jim Huertas, an officer with the Laurel Police Department. The two police officers are also business partners at Prohibition Boutique & Barbershop in downtown Billings.  

  Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Billings Police Department, Jim Huertas, KTVQ, Laurel Police Department, Paul Lamantia

To catch a thief: Facebook helps teen recover stolen truck

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Hayden

Thanks to the power of Facebook—and a bit of old-fashioned shoe leather—Dana Moss Pulis helped her son get his stolen pickup truck back barely half a day after it was stolen. Here’s the story, as pieced together by Moss Pulis, who owns a business in downtown Billings. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Billings, Billings Police Department, Chevy Avalanche, Chevy Silverado, Dana Moss Pulis, Gold Dust Casino, O'Reilly Auto Parts

Boy Scouts’ trailer, full of camping gear, reported stolen

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A trailer full of camping gear belonging to a Billings Boy Scout troop was reported to have been stolen from a West End church parking lot. The theft was reported Monday by Scoutmaster Rick Lindholm, who said the trailer was stolen from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints parking lot at 2929 Belvedere Drive, just off Grand Avenue and 30th Street West. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Billings, News, Billings Police Department, Boy Scouts, Crime Prevention Center, LDS Church, Montana Canvas, Rick Lindholm

Local cops, federal money: How much is too much?

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BEAR

Eight times a year, on average, the Billings Police Department deploys its Special Weapons and Tactics team, 12 officers wearing heavy armor and toting semiautomatic and automatic weapons. In almost all cases, they are executing high-risk search warrants at the homes of suspected drug dealers, and they roll up in the BEAR, the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Department’s 35,000-pound Ballistic Engineered Armored Response vehicle. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Billings, News, ACLU, Amy Cannata, Billings Police Department, Ferguson, Mike Linder, Pat Weber