Published August 30, 2024
MACo 2nd VP Candidate:
Yellowstone County Commissioner, Mark Morse
Commissioner Mark Morse
Yellowstone County
Mark Morse has a law enforcement career spanning just shy of 39 years. Twenty-five (25 years) as a US Postal Inspector and thirteen (13 years) as a Reserve Sheriff’s Deputy.
Postal Inspectors are special agents, much like the FBI. Inspectors investigate crimes with some nexus to the US Postal Service. These include internal crimes (i.e. Internal Affairs); external crimes (mail theft, burglary/robbery); mail fraud and prohibited materials (mail bombs, firearms, explosives, contraband). Prior to the proliferation of the internet, the mails affected everyone’s life, every day.
After retiring from federal law enforcement. Morse became a reserve Deputy for the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office. A deputy’s position requires a different skill set from that of a Postal Inspector. Situations confronted by a sheriff’s deputy are usually fast moving, requiring bold action with incomplete information. Postal Inspectors function more like a detective; analytical and investigative.
Morse also opened a Private Investigator’s business after retirement. Most of these investigations were workers comp cases; medical fraud; insurance crime and white-collar investigations.
Morse ran against incumbent Yellowstone County Commissioner Denis Pitman and won in November 2022. After being sworn in, Morse started working on mental health issues affecting inmates at Yellowstone County Detention Facility (jail). This work quickly morphed into two larger projects: building a Short-Term Detention Center (72 hr hold) for misdemeanor crimes and expansion of the existing jail or construction of a new detention facility.
Mark Morse | Yellowstone County Commissioner | mmorse@yellowstonecountymt.gov | (406) 256-2701