AG Knudsen sued for withholding law-enforcement IDs

By KEILA SZPALLER

The Daily Montanan

HELENA — A new lawsuit alleges a Montana Department of Justice agency is violating the Montana Constitution by refusing to produce the names of law enforcement officers.

Filed last month in Lewis and Clark County District Court, the complaint alleges a policy change at POST, the Public Safety Officer Standards and Training Council, is unconstitutional and has led to an unlawful denial of public safety officer records.

“Law enforcement officers occupy positions of extraordinary public trust,” the lawsuit said. “They are empowered by the State to stop, detain, search, arrest, and use force — including deadly force — on the public’s behalf … Transparency about who may exercise that authority is therefore critical.”

Invisible Institute, a Chicago-based national nonprofit focused on journalism and public accountability, and The Pulp, a Montana media outlet based in Missoula, filed the lawsuit against POST on March 18.

Spokespeople for the Department of Justice did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment on the lawsuit or a question about whether the DOJ would reconsider the policy in question.

The complaint outlines the way changes at POST came about and alleges harm to the public as a result. It asks the court for fixes, including a declaration the policy in question is unconstitutional and a requirement POST provide officer names as requested by the plaintiffs in 2025.

“This case simply attempts to bring transparency back to the public,” the complaint said.

POST was formed in 2007 as “an independent quasi-judicial board” under state law, which gave it authority to independently conduct its business, the complaint said.

It said unlike other executive boards, the Department of Justice was not allowed to supervise its work or represent the agency in communications with the governor. Its work includes certifying public safety officers and maintaining their training and disciplinary records.

Those records include the names and employers of public safety officers, which are public information under Montana’s constitutional Right to Know, the lawsuit said.

It said from its formation through 2019, POST “respected Montana’s constitution” and provided the basic information, name and employer, of public safety officers. The complaint said it did so on at least two occasions.

But in 2019, the Montana Legislature, “under the guise of streamlining government, reorganized POST to remove its independence,” the complaint said.

It said legislators expanded the role of the DOJ by taking away POST’s ability to hire and manage its own affairs, and they placed POST under the direct oversight of the Department of Justice.

At the time, POST Director Perry Johnson warned of the consequences of stripping POST of its independence, although the bill passed anyway, the lawsuit said.

“The autonomy of the POST Council is of paramount importance to the public safety community, to community members and to you and your neighbors,” Johnson said at the time. “It creates and fosters an image of transparency in the Montana public safety community, and it should.”

The complaint said the 2019 amendments to statute sunset in 2021, but the culture of transparency changed, as “Johnson’s words forewarned,” with the changes in management.

In 2022, when POST received a records request for the names of law enforcement officers from the Associated Press, “it became clear that POST was not independent,” the lawsuit said.

It said before, POST could respond to public information requests on its own, but now, staff at the Department of Justice “strongly opposed” releasing the names and employers.

“At the same time, the Department advised POST it would be overseeing its responses to public records requests,” the complaint said.

It said ultimately, POST staff acquiesced to the DOJ and released to the AP anonymized data and names of officers that had been sanctioned by POST.

In recent years, additional public records requests came to POST, but it created a new internal policy that prohibits releasing datasets that disclose an officer’s name and other identifying information, the lawsuit said.

“In accordance with that policy, and POST’s newer practices, POST did not provide the information requested to the various entities,” the complaint said.

It said the policy “mirrored what the Department of Justice believed — that disclosing the names and employers violated officers’ privacy rights.”

In October 2025, The Invisible Institute and The Pulp submitted a records request to POST about officers granted public safety certifications, a required verification an officer has the experience and skill to be on the job, although it did not seek confidential information such as social security numbers or personal addresses, the complaint said.

The plaintiffs are represented by the Morrison, Sherwood, Wilson & Deola firm of Helena.

POST responded, but it redacted officers’ names, in part “to protect their privacy rights and for security and safety reasons,” the lawsuit said. The complaint also said “these concerns are nothing but speculation.”

But the complaint said public safety officer names are publicly available elsewhere, such as the Attorney General’s website, which identifies at least five Montana Highway Patrol officers; and the Montana Transparency Website, which identifies officers with state agencies including Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and the Department of Corrections.

Additionally, it said, municipal enforcement agencies submit officer names to city councils or commissions for hiring confirmations through a state statute that has existed for more than 50 years.

Many law enforcement agencies also have social media pages that identify officers, or commend them for their positive work, and some criminal justice information, such as initial offense reports, name arresting officers.

The lawsuit said law enforcement officers do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their name and employer, except if they are undercover, and POST’s refusal to provide information is a constitutional violation.

“An officer’s name is the link that allows the public and oversight bodies to identify repeat actors, evaluate whether discipline and supervision are applied consistently, and detect systemic failures — especially the problem of ‘wandering’ officers who leave one agency under a cloud and reappear elsewhere,” the complaint said.

“Plaintiff seeks only the identities of public employees acting in their official capacity, not private personal details, and requests the court order disclosure so the public can evaluate government conduct and ensure the trust placed in law enforcement is earned through transparency.”