MISSOULA, Mont. — Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen met with local law enforcement officials in Missoula to discuss key challenges facing the state, including shifting drug trends, staffing improvements, and enhanced efforts to combat crimes against children.
Drug Trends Show Mixed Results
The state is seeing a complex picture when it comes to illegal drug activity. While fentanyl seizures and overdoses continue to decline in Montana, other substances are surging.
"The good news is we're seeing fentanyl continue to drop in Montana," Knudsen said during the roundtable discussion at the state's Forensic Science Division. "Our seizures last year were way down. This year, not as far down, but definitely still trending down."
However, methamphetamine seizures have increased dramatically by about 130% from the previous year. Perhaps more surprisingly, cocaine use is making a comeback in certain areas.
"Cocaine has kind of gone away. We didn't hear a lot of cocaine," Knudsen noted. "Candidly, that's an affluent drug. Cocaine use has gone up in some of our more prosperous counties where there's a lot of growth, where there's a lot of big money."
Crime Lab Faces New Challenges
The state's forensic capabilities are being strained by increasingly complex drug formulations. Traditional testing methods that quickly identified substances like methamphetamine are proving inadequate for newer synthetic compounds.
"We're seeing more and more weird new stuff, these new synthetics like fentanyl," Knudsen explained. "Unfortunately we're seeing more and more other weird new formulations that the cartels are throwing at us that aren't stuff that we're looking for."
This complexity means longer wait times for test results, as technicians must conduct multiple rounds of testing to identify unknown substances.
Highway Patrol Staffing Success Story
One bright spot in law enforcement has been the dramatic improvement in Montana Highway Patrol staffing. The agency, which was down 60 positions in a force of 260-270 officers, is now approaching full staffing for the first time in decades.
"We were literally maybe into even single digits down now and we're hoping to fill that," Knudsen said. "We're on track to be fully staffed at the highway patrol and that'll be the first time that's happened in decades."
The turnaround came after the legislature approved significant pay increases to stop officers from leaving for better-paying positions with local agencies.
Enhanced Child Protection Laws
Montana has significantly strengthened its laws protecting children from online predators and exploitation. Recent legislative changes have made several key improvements:
- First-time solicitation of minors is now a felony offense
- New grooming statutes criminalize the process of building trust with potential victims
- AI-generated child pornography is now explicitly illegal
- Law enforcement sting operations are legally protected from defense challenges
"We've got the Internet Crimes Against Children Office inside of DOJ. We've got a lot of new tech. We've got a lot of people looking at this stuff now, and the more we look, the more we're finding," Knudsen said.
The state has already prosecuted its first case involving AI-manipulated images, where a suspect in rural Carter County was charged with using artificial intelligence to create illegal content from legitimate photos of children.
Future Infrastructure Needs
Looking ahead, Knudsen identified the state crime lab's physical limitations as a critical issue requiring legislative attention. The Missoula facility has reached capacity constraints in both space and electrical power needed for modern forensic equipment.
"We are out of space. We are busting at the seams. We are out of power," he said. "All the new electronic equipment that we have to have to make these cases, they take a lot of electricity, and we literally can't get any more in this building."
The attorney general emphasized that while solutions may not come during his current term, conversations about expanding or relocating the facility will need to begin soon to meet growing demand.
Knudsen advised parents to remain vigilant about their children's online activities, particularly on gaming platforms and social media, where predators increasingly attempt to make contact through chat functions.
