The Bozeman Police Department is authorized for 67 full-time sworn officers. Patrol officers serve in various capacities including bike officers, traffic officers, K9 officers, Drug Recognition Experts, Field Training Officers, Special Response Team members, Court Officers and Crisis Intervention Team members. Numerous detectives serve as drug detectives, property crimes detectives, crimes against persons detectives, or school resource officers. Another officer serves as a Community Resource Officer.

     A group of nearly a dozen civilian support staff augment our ability to serve citizens, serving as Police Information Specialists, an evidence technician, two Animal Control officers, a digital forensics technician, a crash investigator, and a fleet maintenance specialist.

     Volunteers serve our community by assisting us with event logistics and support, photography, evidence documentation, and data entry.

A Message from

Chief Jim Veltkamp

 I am grateful to be serving as the Chief of Police for the City of Bozeman.

As visitors, students, and guests all know, Bozeman is a very special place. Our goal has been, and will continue to be, to partner with the community to keep Bozeman the most livable place and the safest of the seven largest cities in Montana.

Although Bozeman is a very safe place, it is also a very busy place.  As the City continues to see rapid growth, the number of calls, type of calls, and complexity of calls continues to grow.   

In order to ensure we provide this community with the highest quality of service, we routinely assess our practices and look for ways to improve how we respond to the needs of this community.

First, we hire only the best people, people who understand this community.   I truly believe we have the highest quality officers and staff in the State, committed to serving this community with compassion and humility.   They face an increasing workload under intense scrutiny, they respond to traumatic and dangerous calls every day, and they work extra shifts with limited staffing due to how fast this City has grown.     

Second, we continually train on a wide variety of topics and disciplines.  We train on topics such as communication, de-escalation, anti-biased policing, numerous specific investigative disciplines and techniques, and officer safety and wellness.  Doing so ensures we are prepared to investigate any type of case or call and put together the highest quality cases.  It ensures our people understand the importance of treating all persons with dignity and respect.  And, it prioritizes the sanctity of life and ensures a safe and welcoming community for everyone.

Third, we understand the importance of continually building better relationships with those we serve. As one of Sir Robert Peele’s policing principles says, “the police are the public and the public are the police, the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.”  We routinely hold or participate in community events and are expanding our partnership with the community by adding a community liaison and focusing on communicating most consistently regarding activity in the City.

Finally, we continually work with a wide variety of City, County, and non-profit partners to enhance our collective services.  We work consistently with our partners to address urban camping and code compliance issues, mental health response, drug usage and distribution, school safety issues, crime victim support, critical incident response, and many other issues.   A primary driver of these programs is to ensure police officers are not the primary responders to situations that, ideally, require another response.

If there is anything we can do, please do not hesitate to reach out. If you have questions or concerns, I welcome open dialogue.  It is always better to find out the truth than to reach conclusions based on speculation or inaccurate information. 

Again, thank you for being partners with us in keeping this community safe.  It is an honor and privilege to serve this great community.

Thank you,

Chief Jim Veltkamp

Calls For Service

   The Bozeman Police Department is committed to serving our community with integrity, striving at all times to be transparent and accountable in our work. As a part of our mission we have developed a community dashboard where members of the public can view Calls for Service. View our new Calls for Service Dashboard.