‘We are at a Critical Point’

As the Flathead Valley’s population growth continues to outpace its resources, Flathead County Undersheriff Wayne DuBois on April 5 told audience members at the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce Growth Summit that county officials need to prioritize law enforcement to ensure public safety.

Call volumes have spiked 20% since 2018, DuBois said, and the department lost 11 deputies last year. The sheriff’s office will soon have a full staff of 63 sworn-in deputies, but he says the department needs far more to accommodate the growth.

“We are at a critical point at the sheriff’s office,” DuBois told the audience at the Hilton Garden Inn. “You cannot continue to provide a basic level of law enforcement service when you have (this growth).”

With few resources, DuBois says proactive law enforcement is nearly impossible and deputies can only provide a basic level service.

“It is common for us to have an assault in progress, sometimes aggravated, and our supervisors tell dispatch we can’t go – we don’t have anybody left,” DuBois said. “It’s happening frequently for us because (sometimes) we’ll have three assaults already in progress … That’s unacceptable.”

The Flathead County Attorney’s Office is also contributing to unnecessary criminal activity, DuBois says, and he attributes the same individuals to most of the crime in the valley.

“This is coming repeatedly on a weekly basis from the deputies that I talk to is a lack of prosecution,” DuBois said. “They are frustrated … A lot of times the response is ‘Why are we doing this? Because these people are not getting prosecuted.’”

The combination of the lack of prosecution, limited jail space and deputies leaving the department, DuBois said he would like to see county officials prioritizing law enforcement services to prevent and reduce crime.

“We have a system that is broken,” DuBois said.

At the Kalispell Police Department, Chief Doug Overman says call volume hasn’t spiked as significantly as the sheriff’s office, but the types of calls are more serious and are most often mental health and addiction related.

With the help of Community Crisis Co-responder Sarah Winfrey, who handles mental health-related calls that don’t necessarily require law enforcement, she has helped improve operations within the department since she was hired in 2020 and she responded to 411 calls for service in Kalispell last year, Overman said.

Like the sheriff’s office, Overman is concerned about recruiting police officers and while the City of Kalispell added two positions to the budget last year, they haven’t been filled yet.

Interest in law enforcement among younger generations is dwindling, Overman says, and while applications remain minimal, he wants to make sure he’s hiring the right people.

“What I am sad to say is we don’t get the bright-eyed bushy-tailed kids out of high school,” Overman said. “Given the narrative of the last few years, would I want to be a cop today? I’m not sure I would.”

While several factors are influencing law enforcement’s recruitment and retention challenges, Overman wants to ensure he’s hiring individuals who are right for the job, despite the lack of applicants.

“If they are not the right kind of person, we don’t want them,” Overman said.