MPD and UM Team Up to Help People Struggling in the Downtown Area On January 11, 2021, the Missoula Police Department, in collaboration with the Downtown Missoula Partnership, Missoula Fire Department, and UM School of Social Work, will continue to take steps forward to engage with people in crises in the downtown area. Doug Cook, a UM Student pursuing a Master’s Degree in Social Work, will spend ten hours per week with two MPD Downtown Business Improvement District Officers as they patrol the downtown area. Officer Randy Krastel explains the reasoning behind this effort. “Our main goal is to connect those that are suffering from either mental illness or homelessness, or a combination of both, with the resources that we have in town to help them with any type of need they might require,” Krastel said. “We want to try to get them off the street and to help them with the metal illness issue they are suffering from.”