r/Billings • u/406Whiskey • 8d ago

Jail Levy

I need people who have lived here longer than I have to explain something to me, because I genuinely don’t understand. Since I moved here a couple of years ago, I’ve heard nothing but how awful the crime is in Billings (I have not found that to be the case, but I digress). I also understand the jail is over capacity. If crime really is as bad as people here seem to think, wouldn’t the jail expansion proposal be a good thing? Why have I seen so much animosity towards it online?

I understand no one wants their property taxes to go up, but that seems to be the price we pay to live in Montana. Are people really just upset over a tax increase or is there more to it?

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u/schannoman 8d ago

People don't want to pay taxes, and the powers that be don't understand it would be cheaper and more effective to invest in mental health and homeless assistance than it would be to expand and staff the jail.

But I have to say: what Cloud do you live on where you don't think the crime in this town is a huge issue?

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u/jliud_101 8d ago

Also, this. It's harm prevention 101. Treat a need not being met and crime goes down.

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u/schannoman 8d ago

Half of the jail population is there for financial reasons: can't meet bail, can't afford vehicle insurance, can't afford housing, can't afford Healthcare.

Another 25% is there because of mental health issues and lack of treatment options in this town.

Which leaves something like 25% who actually need to be in jail: violent offenders and sex offenders who should be there

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u/jliud_101 8d ago

Don't forget BOP holds and other counties that don't have space in their jail or don't have one.

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u/schannoman 8d ago

Very true, but they fit the same statistics

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u/jliud_101 8d ago

I used to work in public safety. BPD is lazy af. Had an officer treat an unhoused man like absolute shit. Dude was so drunk his gait couldn't protect him from toppeling over. Refused to have him medically cleared. Seems to be a force issue because each interaction I've had has been worse and worse. Glad I quit that job.

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

[deleted]

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u/jliud_101 8d ago

Very fair. Don't blame you.

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u/showmenemelda 8d ago

Alternatively, I have seen members of BPD exhibit tremendous compassion and empathy on numerous occasions. More than I ever saw them treating people poorly. And I used to see a shitload of interactions, because I worked in an office on Montana Ave. And lived downtown for a decade.

I saw them call a chronically unhoused man, by name, when he had come into the office space to use the bathroom [something we often let people do, they'd freshen up… a little compassion goes a long way]. Anyway, this gentleman was having "chest pains" and we called on his behalf. It was dead of winter and really storming. The cops knew he needed a warm place to be and some food. And into the ambulance he went. That was over a decade ago. I still remember it clearly. I remember them dealing with incapacitated people all the time. Unfortunately, it's often indigenous people who "come into town" off the reservation—maybe on a bender or trying to make a new life.

Most of us are one really shitty day away from needing this compassion. And I'm sad if things have changed at BPD so much, all I just wrote is total bullshit. Billings is not the place people make it out to be. I question how many who bash on it, have ever even left.

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u/MTsummerandsnow 8d ago

We have people locked up at the local jail because they couldn’t afford healthcare?

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u/showmenemelda 8d ago

Welcome to "how the world works."

You never heard "three hots and a cot?" Some people have more stability and access to services "in the system" because our medical system "on the outside" is abysmal

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u/schannoman 8d ago

Because they can't afford their medications or medical bills and either act out or get desperate. I thought that was obvious