Two Democratic state lawmakers have sent a letter to Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen demanding a response to morale problems in a climate survey that was conducted throughout the Montana Highway Patrol, which showed substantial distrust and unease with how the office managed the statewide law enforcement agency. The letter, authored by Rep. Tom France, D-Missoula, and Sen.
Jen Gross, D-Billings, also asked the Attorney General’s Office to officially rescind a cease-and-desist letter sent to the Daily Montanan after it obtained and published the survey. The Montana Attorney General’s Office did not immediately respond when contacted Friday. The Montana Highway Patrol survey was conducted by a third-party firm and “anonymized” by the company so that few, if any names, are tied to comments.
Troopers in leadership at the Montana Highway Patrol said that they were concerned that other members would not participate due to concerns about retribution. The overall results showed that nearly 80% of the troopers participated in the anonymous survey, and nearly half, or 45%, were not optimistic about the direction of the Montana Highway Patrol. Even more, “leadership effectiveness” was given an average score of 6.
1 out of 10. Many of the comments of the survey focused on the leadership of the organization, extending all the way to Knudsen himself, as well as a concerns about how human resources were handled. The survey is part of a growing collection of employees and .