MISSOULA — Missoula law enforcement addressed the community during City Club on Monday, updating the public not just on priorities for their agencies, but also on changes coming to their departments.
The city's fire and police chiefs were on hand, as well as Missoula County's sheriff.
Fire Chief Lonnie Rash updated community members on the new fire station being built in Missoula after voters passed a fire levy in 2024.
Meanwhile, Police Chief Mike Colyer focused on technology advances for his department, which is looking to adopt new AI-integrated software.
“We've had another good year in 2025. We really haven't had any major criminal trends pop up on us. We've been controlling crime to the best of our ability on the public safety side. So we just continue to try to work to support our people that are working for us,” said Chief Colyer.
“Overall, I think the biggest work ever for us right now is making sure we do what we say we're gonna do for the citizens with the passage of the fire levy. And so we have hired 20 firefighters to put them on the street. So they're out there working right now. The next phase of that is really taking a look at the fire station six. So that's our focus for 2026 is the location, the design and ultimately bid docs and going out to build. So we hope to find a place somewhere. We're believing right in that third street reserve to Russell area,” said Chief Rash
Although Sheriff Jeremiah Petersen declined an on-camera interview or to provide a statement, he told City Club Missoula that the sheriff's office is seeing an increase in calls. He expects to release more information on his department later this week.
