NORRIS: Playing a ‘shell game’

In your Oct. 17 article “Council invites feedback on Hayden police levy” Sheriff Norris complains of insufficient deputies to provide service to Hayden. I would strongly encourage the sheriff to take a look at how deployment of his existing workforce is prioritized before bawling crocodile tears about short staffing.

While Norris claims to have insufficient deputies to respond to incidents in Hayden, he still manages to provide a near constant presence of county law enforcement at the invasive species checkpoints near Rose Lake. Strangely, there are two invasive species checkpoints located within a couple of miles of each other, one on I-90 westbound and one Highway 3 southbound. Only the government could come up with something this redundant and wasteful, but I digress. Ironically, the checkpoints are also often staffed with ISP officers in addition to county officers.

In a time when our community is being ravaged by a drug epidemic, sexual violence against children and a huge spike in demand for law enforcement, Norris choses to target the ever-elusive invasive snail, instead of focusing on the safety and security of our community.

Norris is clearly playing a bureaucratic shell game with staff, trying to shake down Hayden for more money. This is almost as big a boondoggle as his recent request for a helicopter. Does he plan to park the chopper at the invasive species checkpoint too?

TODD HOFFMAN

Coeur d’Alene