GREAT FALLS — Jesse Slaughter is running for a third term as Cascade County Sheriff, running on a record that encompasses nearly three decades in Montana law enforcement and a platform focused on jail funding, mental health services, and community safety.
Montana's primary election is Tuesday, June 2. In Cascade County, the only candidates running for sheriff are on the Republican ballot, meaning whoever wins the primary will hold the office for four years starting in January.
Tim McGonigal reports - watch the video here:
The race has two candidates on the Republican side. One is Slaugher, the two-term incumbent, while the other is Mindy Kahle, a relative newcomer to north-central Montana politics.
Slaughter has held the position of Cascade County Sheriff since being elected in 2018. His law enforcement career has spanned Gallatin, Stillwater, and Cascade counties, including time on the Great Falls Police Department.
He points to child protection as one of his top achievements in office.
"I think I'm really proud of our school safety program. And I'm really proud of our internet crimes against children and how we protect children. Whether it's a crime that's been committed or preventing crimes against children," Slaughter said.
Looking ahead, Slaughter identifies jail staffing and funding as the county's most pressing challenge.
"Staffing in the jail is probably our biggest challenge that we're up against right now. And then also the revenue model in the way the jail is run. It's approximately a $13 million budget to run the jail. And we only get $4 million in, in tax money to run it. So we have to come up with the rest through contracts," Slaughter said. "The problem with that is, is that as expenses rise, and you're trying to create revenues, the revenues don't always meet the expenses. And as we move into the future, I need to work closely with our county commissioners because we need to have a different model."
While some have advocated for building a new jail, Slaughter does not think that is the answer.
"This is a very large facility. And this facility can serve our community into the future. But we have to re-envision and renegotiate how we do that to make sure it's not all contract revenue based," Slaughter said.
On mental health and addiction services, Slaughter points to a $1.5 million grant to bring back mobile response crisis intervention teams, but acknowledges more work remains.
"What we really need, and we're working on it right now, Indian Family Health Clinic is partnering with us, we're working on a crisis center, place where people suffering from mental illness don't have to come to our jail," Slaughter said.
Having served for almost 17 years with the Great Falls Police Department, Slaughter values collaboration between the department and the Cascade County Sheriff's Office.
"Public safety is always the top priority in any government entity. It has to be," Slaughter said. "However, you have to be careful about that. And one of the best ways we remedy that is through collaboration, through making sure that we, you know, combining our Swat teams, which we did years ago, we didn't need two full size active Swat teams. We have one of the best in the state, if not the best in the state. And that's because we brought them together."
Slaughter also highlights the Sheriff's Office's Community Resource Deputy program as a key effort to serve smaller communities throughout the county.
"Those deputies are in the valley, they're in Belt and they're in Cascade. And those deputies serve in our schools kind of as a school resource officer. But they also respond to all the calls in the community," Slaughter said. "We have really gone above and beyond to make sure that we're serving those rural communities, and make sure and not just by serving them, by responding to their calls, make sure that we're serving him as and our deputies are members of their community and our deputies are involved in their community."
Slaughter also points to how the Sheriff's Office adapts to a changing community as central to his approach to the job.
"Every year that your, sheriff, you know, the world, the world and the community has subtle changes, and you have to be very adaptable to those changes," Slaughter said.
Candidate Mindy Kahle will be profiled on our Thursday evening newscast, and it will be posted to our website.
This article has been lightly edited with the assistance of AI for clarity, syntax, and grammar.
