Hall Cops A Bum Idea, Reid Says Councilwoman Says Parents - Not Kids - Need Attention, But Captain Defends Plan

Putting cops in schools sends the wrong message to students, City Councilwoman Dixie Reid said Tuesday evening.

Reid’s comments were in response to a plan to put two uniformed officers at Coeur d’Alene’s high schools.

“There’s a growing movement in this whole country to get tough with kids,” Reid said, at first reacting to a proposal to ban skateboards in city parks. But her attention quickly shifted to the issue of police in schools.

“The whole world’s gone wacky,” she said, noting parents, not children, need the tougher attention. Other council members expressed concern that they didn’t learn of the proposal to put police in schools until they read about it in the newspaper.

Such comments prompted Police Capt. Carl Bergh, who was watching the meeting on television at home, to rush to the meeting to defend the program. It involves the Coeur d’Alene School District paying for one of the officers and the city covering the cost for the other.

The matter needs council approval.

Since police deal with 1,000 crimes a year involving juveniles, having the officers at school will make detective work more efficient, Bergh said. It also will give young people a chance to get to know the officers and develop a more positive attitude about police, he said.

Schools will get help with security problems and surrounding neighborhoods will get additional attention, he added.

Councilman Dan English, a former police officer, voiced his support.

In the end, the council voted 4-1 to put the matter on its Sept. 5 agenda, with Reid the lone dissenting voice and Councilwoman Nancy Sue Wallace absent.

A proposal to ban skateboarding from places other than the new city skateboard park by next January was defeated 3-2, with councilmen Ron Edinger and Mike McDowell the only yes votes. McDowell and Mayor Al Hassell told the council of significant damage to city property from skateboards.

Coeur d’Alene resident Susan Snedaker chastised city and state officials for having cavalier attitudes about trichloroethylene pollution in the aquifer. The lives and livelihoods of 400,000 people - who drink from the Spokane-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer - are at stake, she said.

The Environmental Protection Agency and Idaho Division of Environmental Quality released reports last week detailing the presence of the solvent in the aquifer. The agencies believe the TCE came from Deming Industries and other sources.

City officials and council members assured Snedaker they are testing water from the city’s Hanley Avenue well every two to three weeks.

, DataTimes