Havre Police Department services disrupted this week

The main office and lobby of the Havre Police Department will be closed from Wednesday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and will be unable to process fingerprints for the remainder of the week, at least, due to an ongoing heavy metals abatement going on in the building.

A press release from the department said they will not be open for testing and monitoring for people on the 24/7 program and requests for any reports or crash reports will not be available.

"During this time, please call the Havre Police Department at 406-265-4361 or the Hill County Sheriff's Office at 406-265- 2512," the release said. "For all emergencies, please continue to dial 911."

The police department, as well as the conjoined Havre Fire Station tested positive for asbestos and heavy metal contamination during a study in late 2022 after concerns were raised about the conditions of the buildings and potential safety and health hazards.

The study found no evidence of air contamination, but did find problem areas with surfaces that tested many times above the legal limit for heavy metals or asbestos, prompting the city to begin the process of abating the buildings and clearing them of any contamination.

Havre Police Chief Gabe Matosich said the office should only be closed to the public for that one day, but work in the building for the abatement will prevent them from easily using their fingerprinting equipment, so that will be unavailable to the public for the rest of this week at least.

"I'm hoping that it will only be for this week, then they will be done with our building," Matosich said Monday.

He said the department often gets requests to take fingerprints from the court, but they also get a lot of requests from people to take their fingerprints when applying for jobs that require them, like teaching positions.

In the meantime, he said, people can go to the Hill County Sheriff's Office, which can also take fingerprints.