Montana Highway Patrol (MHP) troopers interdicted large amounts of illegal drugs in 2021, and in the case of the dangerous opioid fentanyl, they’ve already blown past last year’s quantity in 2022, Colonel Steve Lavin announced today. Troopers found nearly 3,800 fentanyl tablets in 2021, while fentanyl...
HELENA – Fifty-seven new officers who will serve in 40 agencies across the state graduated today from the Montana Law Enforcement Academy (MLEA), which is part of the Montana Department of Justice. MLEA provides basic and advanced training for state, county, city, and tribal law enforcement...
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is leading a coalition of 15 state attorneys general that today called on the Biden administration to halt its efforts to rewrite federal rules and redefine biological sex to include gender identity. The U.S. Department of Education’s intended rulemaking would...
HELENA – Attorney General Austin Knudsen joined nine state attorneys general today in opposing the confirmation of President Biden’s nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court because of her history of leniency toward child predators. As a judge, Jackson has sentenced criminals who...
Montana Attorney General Knudsen joined 22 other state attorneys general in asking the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) to protect the gun rights of all Americans by declaring unconstitutional a California law that bans firearm magazines that are capable of holding more than...
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen today joined 20 other state attorneys general in a lawsuit to end President Biden’s continued mask mandate for airplanes and other forms of mass transportation. The mandate exceeds Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) authority and intrudes on Montanans’...
Following a lawsuit filed by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, a federal judge has blocked parts of President Biden's immigration policy that drastically tied the hands of immigration officers and coincided with a drastic decrease in the number of deportations. The nationwide preliminary injunction issued yesterday...
HELENA – Attorney General Austin Knudsen announced today the launch of the inaugural Montana Law Enforcement Appreciation Poster Contest for elementary school students across Montana. The contest – a partnership between the Attorney General’s Office, Montana Highway Patrol, and the Montana Sheriffs and Peace Officers...
Lloyd Barrus will be sentenced to Montana State Prison, not the Montana State Hospital, following successful arguments from Montana Department of Justice attorneys. Barrus was found guilty in September of three counts of deliberate homicide by accountability and two counts of attempted deliberate homicide for...
HELENA – Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen announced today the appointment of Dirk Johnson as state fire marshal and Dr. Walter Kemp as Montana’s chief medical examiner. Both roles are vital to the Department of Justice’s mission to uphold public safety in the state. “I’m proud...