Post urged to combat excessive force

SANDPOINT — Eight tenets of law enforcement policy laid out by the Eight Can’t Wait campaign were reviewed by Police Chief Corey Coon at Wednesday night’s council meeting.

Coon suggested a ninth tenant which would request the presence of at least one council member at a review board to deter excessive use of force by evaluating complaints made by residents.

“I think that’s important in the climate that we have, that the council is a little bit more involved than we want to be, so we can put that on our list,” Coon said.

The mission of the nationwide campaign is to reduce use of force complaints by creating a comprehensive list of strategies, techniques and inclusion activities that police officers find effective and safe to practice on community members.

The review board is a function of the police department and a use of force instructor would be present in addition to a peer officer, a department supervisor and the councilmember. Coon said in the past 10 years, the city of Sandpoint has averaged 6,000 calls and about 10 use of force complaints per year. This statistic does not include car checks, traffic stops or other general offenses.

“Of those where we actually use force, I can’t remember the last time I have actually had someone come in to complain to me on a use of force complaint where the officer uses excessive force,” Coon said.

Both Councilwoman Deb Ruehle and Mayor Shelby Rognstad requested that a national comparison of use of force statistics be prepared for the next council meeting. City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton said this information will be included in the city’s performance report.

“You can always say we are doing a great job, but let’s really base it on those data points, so the general public can have a clearer understanding and form their own opinion,” Ruehle said.

The eighth tenet of the Eight Can’t Wait campaign requires that officers report each time they use force or threaten use of force against civilians, including when an officer points a firearm at an individual. Coon said Sandpoint’s reporting style is even more comprehensive than what is required by this campaign outline.

“We do have a pretty intense use of force reporting for our officers,” Coon said.

Coon said the officers must report on body force, control holds, chemical agents, impact weapons, display of a taser, firearm and deployment of any other weapon. The report is typed by the officer and then evaluated by the shift supervisor lieutenant, the captain and then goes to the chief for review. The last step is to go to risk management, which is a function that exists outside of the police department.

“We have a lot of checks and balances in our reporting process to have that oversight use of force concerns that are out there,” Coon said.

Coon reviewed all eight points presented by the Eight Can’t Wait Campaign at the June 17 meeting and matched their criteria to Sandpoint Police Department’s current policies. Most requirements such as banning the chokehold or neck hold were consistent with the campaign request. The main differences were with two policies that called for all shootings to have a verbal warning and all shootings be banned at moving vehicles.

Sandpoint Police Department policy says, “Officers can use force when there is an immediate risk of serious bodily injury or death of another person … In such circumstances a verbal warning should precede the use of deadly force where feasible.”

Coon said there are situations where he feels there is not time to warn the public beforehand. He used the example of Sandpoint police officers Michael Hutter and Eric Clark in the 2018 shooting, where both police officers were legally justified by court to have returned fire and killed 28-year-old Brandon Kuhlman who reportedly shot fire after the police officers responded to a call at his apartment complex.

“There wasn’t time to communicate,” Coon said. “If our policy were to add the term in all situations there would have been a violation of our policy and we don’t want to set our officers up for failure.”

Other policies discussed included de-escalation, a tactic to minimize confrontation as quickly and effectively as possible. He explained in detail the checklist that is going through an officer’s head while they are responding to a call. CIT (Crisis Intervention Team Training) has been used for the city’s police officers to learn how to evaluate the safety of the conditions, introduce themselves and entertain the other person’s name, move slowly in a non threatening manner, use moderate a level of direct eye contact, remove distractions or disruptive people from the area and demonstrate very active listening skills. Some things officers are instructed not to do include using a tactical approach that could be perceived as aggressive or using threats to obtain compliance.

A police officer is also trained to immediately understand the level of threat an individual has, including their mental state, physical strength and risk of weapons in the area including non traditional weapons such as rakes, shovels or pocket knives.

“I strongly suggest to all the citizens to get more involved and see what the police do here for us,’’ Councilmember Andy Groat said in response to Coon’s announcement. “The economy and the lake are amazing. The citizens are amazing. And the other people that take care of us are our fire department and our law enforcement and I am very grateful for you guys.”

Aly De Angelus can be reached by email at adeangelus@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @AlyDailyBee.