Issue Position: Fighting Crime

Issue Position

Issue Position: Fighting Crime

Making our communities safe has been Mike's number one priority since becoming Attorney General.

Substantial improvements have been made to the training programs for law enforcement, as well as prosecutors. The state forensic lab has added much needed staff and, in 2005, became one of the few nationally accredited state crime labs in the country.

In 2003, Mike initiated Montana's AMBER Alert system in an effort to speed the recovery of abducted children.

As Attorney General, in 2002 Mike began a major initiative to combat the dramatic rise of methamphetamine abuse. Meth has a devastating impact on our communities. It causes increased crime and often irreparable damage to the individuals who use it and to their families. The package of legislation he proposed in 2005 has been extremely successful in reducing the availability of pseudoephedrine and other precursors, which has substantially reduced the number of clandestine labs in Montana.

Mike has strongly and consistently supported expanded drug treatment courts and the long-term treatment programs meth addicts need. Increased efforts in prevention, education and treatment are beginning to have an effect. The recent report, Methamphetamine in Montana, published in conjunction with the Montana Meth Project, points to a number of encouraging trends.

Mike has worked with the Montana Legislature to enact many criminal justice bills including:

* Increasing penalties for methamphetamine sales
* Making identity theft a crime
* Strengthening DUI laws
* Creating a process for post-conviction DNA testing
* Improving criminal procedures for prosecutors and law enforcement
* Outlawing racial profiling

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