Ex-Commissioner Turned Patrolman Leaves Force Mike Anderson Was Post Falls Police Captain Before ‘92 Election

After just four months on the beat, Post Falls police officer and former Kootenai County Commissioner Mike Anderson is packing up and leaving town.

Anderson, 40, resigned from the force last week, effective Aug. 21. The one-time police captain turned patrolman plans to move to Southern California to live with his sister.

Anderson, a Democrat, left the Post Falls department a captain in 1992 when he was elected commissioner. Six months after losing his November re-election bid to Republican Dick Panabaker, he returned to the force as a patrolman, working a 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. shift.

“You can’t go back home again,” Anderson said of the department. “I’m just not satisfied to go from second in command to rookie on the street.”

When he took the job in April, it was the only law enforcement job available there. It paid $11.06 an hour - about $23,000 per year. Anderson made about $40,000 as a commissioner. He said it probably would have been at least three years before he could have advanced.

“I got along well with the other officers, but it didn’t feel the same,” he said. “It was frustrating seeing things go on that if I were in another position I would have the power to change. I was getting bitter.”

Anderson acknowledged a citizen had filed a complaint against him charging he used excessive force while on duty, but he declined to elaborate. It was not a factor in his decision to leave, he said.

“It was the first-ever (complaint) someone had made against me in my entire career,” he said.

During his first election bid, Anderson took heat for his 1983 firing from the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department. He was dismissed for claiming another officer’s pistol as his own. He later admitted the lie, saying he was protecting a fellow cop.

Monday, Police Chief Cliff Hayes would not comment on the complaint and said only that Anderson’s decision to leave was his own. He also said Anderson leaves the department on good terms.

The North Idaho native said he likely will change careers upon arriving in California. He also said he planned no forays into politics - “not now, not ever.”

“I enjoyed the politics here, but it’s a dirty, dirty game,” he said, then laughed. “I’ve paid my debt to society.”

, DataTimes