Sheriff explains amended contract with Hayden

Sheriff Bob Norris said Thursday that the only reason for a recent amendment to the city of Hayden’s contract with his office for law enforcement coverage was to clarify language that extended his office’s commitment beyond the agreed upon 10 deputies to 12. 

“The addendum was correct, but the primary language on the contract was not,” Norris said.

The city, which does not have its own police department, was already contracting with the sheriff’s office to provide four deputies to cover Hayden. To increase that coverage, voters passed a $543,843 property tax levy last fall to fund six additional deputies.

The primary language on the contract, which is now being finalized, said, “The county shall provide a minimum patrol of at least two (2) dedicated officers/deputies each shift to provide patrolling services....” 

Norris said that language equated to placing a dozen deputies in Hayden. 

“Because the way that they had it would require two per shift. We have six shifts so that would be 12 deputies,” the sheriff said.

Under the amended agreement, the sheriff’s office will cover four shifts with two deputies, and one deputy in the remaining two. 

Norris still believes that in the long term, 10 deputies will not be enough to cover the city, but he considers the levy and additional manpower to be a step in the right direction. 

“I am very happy with how we are progressing in the city of Hayden,” he said. 

But more police coverage, and funding for it is needed. 

“This is nowhere near where the city needs to be,” Norris said. “Because we are constantly drawing resources from everywhere else in the county to come to calls for service in the city of Hayden.”

The gap between the cost of policing and what the city pays has grown over time. While the city of Hayden grew in population, the law enforcement and law enforcement budget did not keep up, Norris said. And now the sheriff would like to see that gap closed. 

A consulting company, Leaders at the Core of Better Communities, conducted a study of Hayden’s law enforcement coverage in 2010. 

At the time Hayden had around 13,000 people and “a very low crime rate," according to the study. In the findings the consulting company recommended that Hayden have 20 sworn officers and four civilian positions to staff the department. 

“We firmly believe that no police agency should operate without a minimum of two sworn officers on duty at all times and have based our staffing on that assumption,” wrote the director Leonard Matarese. 

Norris uses that study to guide his vision for what the Hayden law enforcement coverage could be, with 1.5 deputies per thousand residents, or 24 sworn officers assigned to the city.

That would cost Hayden at least $2.7 million and bring the city’s police budget to match other cities across the state of Hayden’s size.

Currently, the city of Hayden will pay just over $1 million in 2024 for $1.8 million worth of service from the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office according to data from the sheriff’s office.

Having 10 deputies assigned to the city of Hayden will cost $1.139 million dollars for salaries and benefits. Plus the onboarding costs of training six new deputies at $158,000, and six new vehicles for those deputies at $480,000.