Conversations over coffee

COEUR d’ALENE — Brothers 3-year-old Lucas and 2-year-old Barrett Burgin maneuvered their toy cop cars on a table at Macadamia Coffee on Tuesday morning.

Mom Jordan Kaye said she brought the boys out to the Silver Lake Mall in Coeur d’Alene to get a chance to meet deputies at the Coffee with a Cop event put on by the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office.

Grandpa Ron Borg tagged along for one thing: doughnuts.

“I figured if there were cops, there’d be doughnuts,” Borg said.

“There’s no doughnuts,” he added, laughing.

However, the boys scored on stickers from some of the deputies.

Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said he tries to get the deputies out into the community with events like Coffee with a Cop to give them an opportunity to introduce themselves to the community. This also opens a communication line for the community to share how they’re doing.

Norris said he also likes to hold town hall meetings after an unusual event to communicate with the public and explain the KCSO response to the particular event.

“The response has been very, very positive,” Norris said.

Coeur d’Alene resident Naidene Boer brought her three-year-old son Jayaur to interact with some deputies. Boer said she likes to watch for local events to bring her son so he learns to talk to people and knows it's safe to interact with certain strangers such as law enforcement.

“Unfortunately with the quarantine, it’s like they’re sheltered,” Boer said. “If he’s ever out in public and needs help, I want him to start recognizing some of the faces in his community and the badges and uniforms, things like that, so he knows who to go to.”

Boer said Jayaur was a bit shy when they first showed up, and stayed behind her because he knew about stranger danger, but interacted with the officers toward the end of the visit.

“He just gave Officer Bob a hug so he’s warming up,” Boer said. “I think it’s really cool.”

Other conversations centered around growth and the staffing shortage at the jail. Jail Capt. Andy Deak talked about the problems of staffing shortages with Coeur d’Alene residents Bob and Janet Logan.

Deak said all levels have been deployed to work overtime shifts in the jail. He said currently they are dealing with shipping inmates out, and have about a dozen out of their custody in counties in Washington.

“It’s not cheap to house them and transport them and do all that care while they’re out of our facility,” Deak said. “Next phase, we’re probably going to end up shutting down our housing units because we don’t have enough staff to even monitor the inmates in there.”

Deak said they have roughly 400 inmates in the jail, with a maximum capacity of 451. With the low staffing level, the inmate-to-deputy ratio is around 25-1, Deak said. He said the national standard is 15-1.

On some days he said there’s even fewer deputies if some are out sick, injured or other reasons.

“We go down even lower than that which is dangerous,” Deak said.

Deak said they have staff working 30-40 hours overtime each week, which can take a huge toll on their family life. He said the lack of staff isn’t new and has been an issue as far as 25 years ago.

“The county is growing and the infrastructure is not growing at the same rate as the population,” Deak said. “It’s inevitable you’re eventually going to out-tap your resources.”

Deak said many people moving in are retired and aren’t contributing to the workforce. He said these older people also contribute to a lot of the fire calls if they fall or have a heart attack, and each time there’s a fire call a cop also goes along to make sure the scene is safe.

“It's a tough balance,” Deak said. “There’s no easy answer.”

Deak said there are some families moving into the area, and hopefully they’ll fill in some of the workforce vacancies, but it’s slow rolling.

On March 1, the Press reported there were 17 positions currently vacant at the county jail.

Bob Logan said he was grateful to have a chance to talk with the deputies and just see them around the community. Moving to the area from California, he said he never saw cops in his previous state of residence unless they were on a crime or accident scene.

“Here you see them in the community,” Bob Logan said.

“It’s very nice to have that,” he said and shook hands with the captain. “I appreciate you guys coming out.”

“We appreciate the community,” Deak said. “Every deputy sheriff here feels very well supported.”

Future dates and locations for Coffee with a Cop will be posted on the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office Facebook page.

Another upcoming opportunity to chat with deputies will be at the Town Hall meeting on Monday at 6 p.m. at the Hauser Lake Fire Department. They will discuss the Hauser Lake murder and public safety response on Feb. 28.