There have been several businesses in or around downtown who have complained recently about homeless people and transients loitering in front of their business or even going inside, causing disturbances.
Brian Thompson, owner of the Hi-Line Climbing Center, said they rarely ever enter his business, but still: “Certainly, it’s not good for business, but it’s something that we kind of deal with.”
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“It’s always an ongoing issue. For 35 years, it has been an issue,” said Sandi Thares, owner of the O’Haire Motor Inn and Sip ‘N Dip.
While it may be rare for the individuals to enter the business and cause a disturbance, the presence outside the businesses does still pose a safety issue for employees and customers.
“Right now, I can look out the window and see probably 6 to 8 people just sitting in front of an abandoned building,” said Thompson.
Thares added, “As business owners, there’s better things that we can do. We can hang up signs, we can call 911 when we’re having issues. Things that we need to do as business owners downtown to help our law enforcement, solve the issue.”
In 2024, the Great Falls Police Department responded to 6,263 calls in the downtown area, from noise disturbances and loitering to trespassing and assault.
“We are absolutely going to stand with those business partners downtown and put our best foot forward to address those issues because we want people to feel safe in the downtown area.
However, Captain Mahlum said the overall number of 911 calls in the downtown area are seeing a slight decrease.
“It certainly doesn’t feel that way, specifically in areas such as the downtown area. It seems that there’s a lot more going on with the criminal element that we need to deal with and address, but overall numbers are down from 2023 to 2024,” Mahlum explained.
In 2023, the Public Safety Levy failed with 62% of Great Falls voters against the mill levy. Some of those funds, had the levy passed, would have gone toward having additional officers to do more proactive patrolling.
“The levy not passing certainly had an impact,” said Mahlum. “We’re addressing issues as we can, the best that we can.”
Several downtown business owners as well as law enforcement officials are working together to make downtown Great Falls a safer, cleaner place.
Mahlum said they are working on coming up with some ways to better solve the issue; however, specifics on what those will be have not yet been decided.
Mahlum explained, “In regard to how we’re going to redirect resources, we see it as a community approach. We want businesses involved with the police department to take care of the issue as much as we can.”
