Law Enforcement Vs. Politics
For several years now, the majority of residents and recreational users along the Spokane River in Kootenai County have been struggling with the safety concerns as well as environmental and property damages caused by excessive wakes. After presenting numerous scientific and engineering studies as well as personal testimonies about the obvious dangers generated by these excessive wakes, the County Commissioners adopted a no-excessive wake ordinance on the Spokane River in 2021 (Resolution 2021-63).
It should be emphasized that current Idaho State Law (Title 67, Chapter 70), also known as the “Idaho Safe Boating Act” already prohibits boaters from creating excessive wakes (Title 67-7024 (4)). The law also requires the Sheriff’s department to be primarily responsible to enforce this Act (Title 67-7028). Though excessive wakes are prohibited specifically in the law, an additional prohibition under 67-7019 states “It shall be unlawful for any person to operate a vessel on the waters of the state of Idaho at a speed or other conditions that cause any damage to or affects the safety of other vessels, docks, shoreline installations or any other property or person” (bold emphasis added).
As one might expect — the concerned residents and recreational users were grateful that the County Commissioners had finally adopted a local ordinance that was in compliance with State Law and put a common-sense limitation on the narrow confines of the Spokane River. A collective sigh of relief was given thanks to the two Commissioners who chose to take a proactive approach rather than waiting for the inevitable fatality.
The relief was short-lived as it was noted almost immediately that the Sheriff’s department was not only failing to enforce existing State Law and the local ordinance, but actually published a statement that he would not enforce the law/ordinance — citing his “discretion.” This published statement was an apparent effort to reassure violators that his department would let them flaunt the law/ordinance at will. Which they did. Conversations with marine patrol members confirmed that they had been instructed to not enforce the ordinance/State Law by Sheriff Norris. Having voted for Sheriff Norris myself based on the belief that he would honor his campaign promises to not play politics and “enforce the law,” I was disappointed and disgusted.
As predicted, a serious injury crash caused by a boat generating an excessive wake occurred on the river towards the end of last summer. An unfortunate and completely unnecessary event that could have been avoided if the Sheriff had been doing his job.
Sheriff Norris recently responded to criticism relating to his failings to uphold the no excessive wake ordinance by stating that his deputies’ presence on the Spokane River amounted to 77,000 minutes (vs. just under 1,300 hours). Must think the minutes statistic sounds more impressive…. He also stated that “Boating is a risk that will have deaths and injuries.” I believe most voters in the County would agree that boating (of itself) is not inherently deadly or subject to injury. What is inherently dangerous is the boating environment on the Spokane River that the Sheriff has directly caused by his own actions.
The vast majority of boating stops and use of resources (according to the Sheriff’s department) were associated with “safety” checks. Observing life jacket and other required safety equipment. This is ironic since the greatest safety issue currently are prohibited excessive wakes. An illegal activity that the Sheriff went out of his way to ensure wasn’t enforced unless the perpetrator was also violating the no wake proximity zone (operating within 100 ft of docks or the shoreline).
Citing his discretion — the Sheriff instructed his deputies to ignore the bulk of illegal excessive wake activity. Sheriff deputies were observed almost daily driving by boats producing excessive wakes without enforcing the State Law or County ordinance. These discretionary choices by Sheriff Norris directly contributed to several serious accidents and the injury accident mentioned earlier. An accident that is currently in litigation and thanks to the Sheriff has put the County at risk.
Prior to being elected (on evidently false campaign promises), Sheriff Norris was a lieutenant with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. It must have been in Los Angeles that he became accustomed to choosing which laws to enforce or not. These ultra-liberal sanctuary cities have become infamous for ignoring laws in favor of local politics for years. Sadly, I had hoped Idaho would never fall under the influence of law enforcement officers that would rather play at politics than performing their sworn duty to enforce the law (and that includes those that they don’t personally like or are disliked by their social circles/campaign donors). I guess it’s no surprise that according to Wikipedia, Sheriff Norris was a volunteer for the Kootenai County Search and Rescue team and was put on administrative leave “due to political interference”. If voters had only known his predilections before the election ...
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Ken Stauffer is a Coeur d’Alene resident.