BOZEMAN — Law enforcement are supposed to be people you can trust. But what if I told you getting arrested has turned into something of a game for some Bozeman Police officers?
Friday afternoon, a press conference was held at the Bozeman Public Safety Center, where this significant issue was discussed.
“Two teams of patrol officers were engaged in a bingo competition. Where success in the game hinged on whether they engaged on actions listed on the bingo card,” says Bozeman Police Chief Jim Veltkamp, who led the press conference.
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You read that right. In mid-January, 13 officers, including two sergeants, took part in an on-duty game of bingo. But this was no regular game of bingo.
“It did look like your standard bingo card. Then they filled in squares on the card of things that they wanted to see happen, or have happen. In order to check off that box on the bingo card,” explains Veltkamp.
The bingo cards included multiple categories. An example card, which is attatched to this article, highlights squares included getting the lowest team score on a physical fitness test, or putting out a fire before the Bozeman Fire Department arrived. But one category that concerned Bozeman police chief Jim Veltkamp? Was types of arrests or calls that officers wanted to handle.
“An example of one of those was to do a search warrant on a car. Which in it of itself, that is one of their duties. The concern is of they manipulated anything in order to be able to search a car,” says Veltkamp.
The Chief says this game went on for 12 days until the command staff was made aware. At that time, the game was shut down. An inquiry was conducted to determine there were no wrongful arrests or officers acting outside their normal duties.
“We conducted our own internal investigation. And then after that, the city attorney's office conducted their own review,” says Veltkamp.
The Division of Criminal Investigation was not involved, but an external attorney was also contracted who reviewed all 24 cases that took place during the bingo time period.
“And concluded the same. That zero of the cases had been affected by the game,” Veltkamp added.
Although he says there were zero affected cases, Veltkamp tells me there are some disciplinary actions taking place.
“The officers involved that had these cards handed to them? We had a lot of long conversations about this, and they were warned about how inappropriate this is. The supervisors who participated or had any knowledge of it, they were disciplined beyond that. But again, I can't talk about exactly what it was because it's a personnel issue,” says Veltkamp.
Moving forward, I asked what actions are being taken to prevent games like this. Veltkamp replied: training and education, “along with us continuing to have those discussions, and closer monitoring to ensure this will never happen again."
Interim City Manager Chuck Winn also spoke at the press conference and said he wanted to let the city of Bozeman know:
“I apologize to Bozeman that this happened. We are fully committed to learn from it and ensure it, or anything like it, does not happen again,” says Winn.
The Gallatin County Attorney's Office issued a statement following the press conference.
You can read it in its entirety below:
Today, Bozeman Police Department held a press conference regarding an internal inquiry that involved two teams of patrol officers who engaged in a bingo competition while on call.
The Gallatin County Attorney’s office is responsible for all felony prosecutions in the County, Bozeman included. Eleven felony cases referred to the County Attorney’s office for prosecution involved defendants arrested during the bingo game.
One of the County Attorney’s roles is to ensure that every prosecution that the County Attorney’s office brings is effective, fair, and constitutionally sound. Under Brady v. Maryland and Giglio v. United Statesdecisions, prosecutors are required to disclose to the defense, in a timely manner, any evidence that is favorable to the accused and material to guilt or punishment.
This can include information that might call into question the credibility of a witness—including a law enforcement officer—such as bias, prior misconduct, dishonesty, or excessive use of force. If the credibility issues are significant enough, it can affect a prosecutor’s ability to rely on that officer’s testimony in court or to move forward with a case.
This is not a discretionary process—it is a constitutional mandate designed to ensure fairness in our justice system.
When the County Attorney’s office was made aware of the incident, County Attorney Cromwell worked in conjunction with Bozeman City Attorney’s office to hire an independent investigative prosecutor to review the Bozeman Police Department’s internal investigation and recommend a course of action. Following the delivery of this report on April 16th, 2025 the County Attorney’s office filed motions with the District Court asking the Court to conduct a judicial review to determine what information should be disclosed to defense counsel in relevant cases.
“Cases brought by the Gallatin County Attorney’s office must be effective and constitutionally sound,” states County Attorney Audrey Cromwell. “My office will continue to uphold the law and rights of all involved—the victims, the accused, and the community—safeguard public safety, and ensure justice.”
