Farewell, Bitterroot Busted Friends

Well, folks, after years of shining a light into the sometimes murky world of Ravalli County’s police activity, the time has come to bid you all a fond farewell. Bitterroot Busted is closing its virtual doors. Not because we’ve lost the passion or the energy, but because the powers that be have made transparency a thing of the past. Ravalli County, like Missoula before it, has decided to stop posting mugshots to the jail roster, effectively cutting off the lifeblood of our operation. Without this information, keeping the site up and running is simply no longer feasible.

When this little experiment began, we never imagined it would go on as long as it did. This started as an educational project but it became more than that. Your daily check-ins motivated us to keep going, and it was a blast.

To be clear, there are no hard feelings toward the Sheriff’s Office. They’ve got their reasons for the change, but it doesn’t mean we have to like it. At the end of the day, these decisions in Ravalli and Missoula Counties have left a pretty big blind spot in public accountability.

So with a heavy heart, we’re hanging up our mugshot database. To everyone who visited, shared, and supported the site over the years, thank you. You made this experiment into something far more impactful than we ever imagined. Here’s hoping it’s been as fun for you as it has been for us. Until next time, Ravalli county: so long, and thanks for all the fish.