'Dire need' for more police officers

COEUR d'ALENE — A downtown business owner is calling on the Coeur d’Alene City Council to budget for more police officers in the downtown area.

“I have been in business downtown for over 14 years now, and I can say that over the last year and a half I have seen a very marked change,” wrote Dave Pulis, Coeur d’Alene resident and owner of the Moose Lounge at Fourth and Sherman. “I personally believe it is related to COVID and the emotional toll business closures and mask mandates have taken, but whatever is happening is real and it is not good.”

He added that, “Just the sheer fact that we have more people living in the area should be enough to recognize that more officers are necessary. More people, means more problems, it is as simple as that.”

The council will be considering a $109 million budget when it holds a public hearing Sept. 7. That includes two additional full-time police officers at $213,696 and one sergeant at $133,095. The budget also calls for one grant-funded police officer at $106,848.

Police Chief Lee White said Wednesday the city could use more police officers. The downtown area, at times, has demanded more attention from police. Bars have been very busy all summer, even late at night.

White said he initially requested the city add a traffic sergeant and four police officers in its budget planning.

“There is a dire need for them,” White said.

The city has 71 police officer positions, with two currently open and another opening soon.

White previously told the council that after 10 p.m. downtown changes dramatically.

“The dinner crowd goes home, and people show up downtown,” he said. “I don’t think it’s largely people that have been down there all night. They’re a brand new crowd. Many of them show up already intoxicated. Then they go into the bars and continue to drink.”

The police department is accepting applications for entry-level police officers through Aug. 31.

The starting hourly wage while attending the POST Academy is $24.71, increasing to $25.94 after completing it. The job also comes with “an excellent benefits package.”

Qualifications include being at least 21, having a high school diploma, passing physical agility and drug tests, a polygraph, a psychological evaluation as well as a background investigation.

Pulis said more police would help regulate downtown.

“I know that you are all looking at the budget right now,” he wrote to the council. “I encourage you to add the officers necessary and take some pressure off the officers we have now, that are dealing with the bad apples in our barrel.”

Pulis noted that his support of more police officers downtown, "May come as a surprise to some of you based on my recent objections regarding the enforcement of over-service of alcohol downtown, but I have always been pro-law enforcement and have a great deal of respect for the job they do."

His establishment, along with Mik’s, the Iron Horse and the Beacon, have been where police are often called.

Pulis said he has been in close contact with Capt. Jeff Walther and White in 2021 and understands officers working the late-night downtown beat “are stressed and exhausted.”

“Their job is dangerous and challenging, and in a time where some left-leaning cities are defunding the police, I think Coeur d'Alene should be doubling down and offering competitive wages and workloads that don't overwhelm," Pulis wrote. "Let's give them the help they need.”