AG Knudsen’s poor leadership is hurting MHP, costing Montana taxpayers | Sheila Hogan

Austin Knudsen is running the Montana Highway Patrol into the ground and is wasting your tax dollars.

Earlier this year, we learned low morale and high turnover at the Montana Highway Patrol (MHP) are plaguing the organization. Bombshell reporting from the Daily Montanan revealed that MHP staff reported experiencing a toxic work environment, favoritism, lack of communication and confidence in leadership, no long-term vision of the agency, and burnout all detailed in a summary of an internal survey obtained by the news outlet.

The full 381-page report was later published by the Daily Montanan in August, containing survey responses, comments from staff, and recommendations to leadership for improving workplace culture provided by the contractor hired to assess the agency.

Comments from MHP staff published by the Daily Montanan show just how dire the situation is:

"Our district's morale has drastically gone downhill to the point people are leaving."

"We lost over 30 troopers last year, some being retirements, most resignations."

"We are losing massive numbers of employees for various reasons, such as not appreciated, underpaid, and blatantly overworked."

As if these revelations were not bad enough, it appears as though AG Knudsen was dead set on hiding these findings from Montanans: Knudsen issued a cease and desist letter to the Daily Montanan last month after the outlet published the entire report.

The news outlet responded by announcing they would not be pulling the published report from their website , and we don't believe they should either.

This information is in the public interest, and don't forget, Montana taxpayers paid for the assessment and subsequent report!

The DOJ should immediately recall the cease and desist letter to avoid frivolous litigation that will waste more Montana tax dollars.

More importantly, Knudsen needs to do some explaining.

How does he plan on changing course and improving the culture at MHP? How will he implement the recommendations outlined in the commissioned report? Why was there no communication with the public about the report or its findings?

And how will he regain the trust of MHP staff and all Montanans concerned for the well-being of law enforcement and public safety?

Sheila Hogan is executive director of the Montana Democratic Party. She grew up in Butte and now lives in Helena with her husband, Jim.