Officers made class informative and fun

Getting stopped for a minor traffic violation generally is a negative experience. Humiliation, embarrassment and guilt can quickly morph into anger, resentment and blame against the officer and the police in general.

My encounter with the Sandpoint Police was exactly the opposite: After being stopped for “drifting” through a stop sign, the officer was polite, respectful and understanding. And then he did an unheard of thing: he offered me an alternative to the ticket that would be sent to the State and my insurance company. The city has an optional driver safety school that keeps the incident off the record.

This class of four hours last Saturday was conducted by the two traffic supervisors (Chris Giese and Steve Chamberlin), and they did an outstanding job. While keeping it light and chatty; full of humor and personal antidotes, they also showed the grim reality of unsafe driving. They gave us a valuable review of the rules of the road and safe driving practices. And they tolerated and encouraged our most irrelevant questions, inviting maximum participation from the class. We students unanimously agreed that it was a valuable use of a Saturday morning.

This program takes what could be destructive to the relationship between the police department and its citizens, and reverses it into a constructive, upgrading experience. And speaking for myself, I am a safer, more careful driver. And now I come to a complete stop.

GARY BERG

Sagle