Sandpoint PD needs immediate makeover

I attended the public meeting on the future of the police department and came away with a disturbing feeling that anything that will approach community policing is a long way off.

Speaker after speaker stood up and related how they felt the officers on duty treated them with disrespect and needlessly followed them from any downtown establishment they happen to be leaving that night. When I asked the police chief to respond to this charges, he stood up very red faced and denied that his officers profile downtown drivers for DUI stops. He pointed to the strategic planning document  showing that DUI arrests are equally distributed over all sections of Sandpoint. This explanation only confirms the repeated story that anyone leaving downtown is being followed into these other areas before being stopped.

DUI is a serious offence and drunk drivers need to be taken off the streets. We all agree on this, but this is about using when and where you happen to park as probable cause to follow you home hoping you will provide them with just cause for a traffic stop.

I’m sorry chief; you have either implemented this policy yourself or are clueless as to what your officers are doing on the job. Either way you are responsible for your department’s reputation for abusing the public. If you need something to plan, I recommend you focus the next eight years on getting the citizens to support your department. What’s happening now isn’t working.

DAN MIMMACK

Sandpoint