East Helena votes 3-1 to keep police in MRDTF for two years

East Helena's City Council voted 3-1 to keep the East Helena Police Department in the Missouri River Drug Task Force (MRDTF) under a new two-year memorandum of agreement approved at the council meeting on January 20, 2026. The decision keeps the city tied to a multiagency effort that aims to dismantle criminal drug trafficking organizations across western Montana, even as the City of Helena pulled its police department from the task force after the MRDTF formally added Border Patrol agents.

The updated memorandum adds four Border Patrol agents to MRDTF staffing: two assigned to the Helena area and two assigned to the Gallatin Valley near Bozeman. That formal assignment differs from earlier arrangements in which Border Patrol had been available to assist on an as-needed basis. The MRDTF includes member agencies across Lewis and Clark, Broadwater, Madison, Meagher, Gallatin, Sweet Grass and Park counties, maintains headquarters in Lewis and Clark and Gallatin counties, and includes the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff’s Office among its continuing members.

East Helena council members framed the vote around local public-safety benefits. Council member Wes Feist said, “I am proud to have voted to keep East Helena active in the task force.” Feist added that the MRDTF “has greatly helped us combat drug and human trafficking concerns along the Highway 12 corridor” and that “It also continues to assist with drug crime investigation operations within the city of East Helena.” Council member Doug Dahl said he “was skeptical, but he voted with public interest in mind, hearing only positive comments.”

The City of Helena moved in the opposite direction, temporarily withdrawing its Helena Police Department from MRDTF in early January after the task force approved the formal Border Patrol assignments. Helena Police Chief Brett Petty said, “I decided to, for Helena PD, to temporarily withdraw from MRDTF because I wanna make sure and keep our focus here for Helena PD [on] the policing and the drug activity.” Petty expressed concern that a Border Patrol presence could draw local officers into immigration enforcement and later characterized the political fallout this way: “That group comes in and says, 'Hey, thanks. You guys are doing a great job,' and then the other side torches us.”

Helena also faces a tangible budget consequence from its withdrawal: the city stands to lose a $30,000 annual grant tied to task force partnership, and officials had already received half of that payment for the fiscal year. Helena had previously committed one detective to MRDTF investigations; that detective remains employed by Helena and the department indicated it could still coordinate with the task force when needed. Separately, a local Commission passed a 4-1 resolution on Jan. 26 refusing an agreement with ICE that would allow local officers to perform certain immigration tasks, signaling broader local resistance to entanglements with federal immigration enforcement.

For East Helena residents, the vote preserves access to regional investigative resources that city leaders say help address drug and human trafficking along key corridors. The two-year agreement sets a clear window for review: city officials and the public will be able to assess whether MRDTF operations and any federal involvement align with local policing priorities as the memorandum approaches renewal.