Cda Braces For Sequel To July 4 Melee Police Prepare For Next Independence Day Invasion

The Fourth of July holiday may be nothing more than a fizzling memory, but its image has been burned into the Coeur d’Alene psyche.

It’s an image that Kootenai County police and government officials hope not to relive.

Fueled by alcohol and an enormous crush of people, the Independence Day crowd in downtown Coeur d’Alene was one of the unruliest in recent years.

But local police and city officials, worried that a busy summer has only just started, are coming up with some ways to prevent the same mayhem. Authorities worry not only about next year’s Fourth of July celebration, but the rest of this summer’s big events.

“We have six to eight weeks of hot weather, we have the bar scene, the skinheads downtown are making threats. We’re seeing the gang bangers coming over here again. I have a county fair,” said Kootenai County Sheriff Pierce Clegg. “We’re not out of the woods yet.”

“You’re going to be seeing a more obvious presence from the Sheriff’s Department,” said sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger. “We don’t want to be out there like the strong arm of the law, but I think you’re going to see a more high profile so we can keep these things a family event - that’s what the people want.”

More than 40 officers from the Coeur d’Alene Police Department, Sheriff’s Department and Idaho State Police spent the Fourth of July rushing from one fight to the next.

City officials estimate some 10,000 people from North Idaho and Spokane crammed into Coeur d’Alene’s downtown corridor. The park along the lake was at three times its carrying capacity.

One man was stabbed, two police officers were assaulted. ISP’s riot control team was nearly brought into action. The North Idaho police manpower was drained almost immediately, said Coeur d’Alene Capt. Ken Timmons.

“We don’t have the resources supplied to us by the citizens to take care of this influx of population,” said ISP Capt. Willis Brownlee. And his prognosis for the future is grim. “I don’t see anything in the future that is going to make it less of a problem.”

City Councilwoman Nancy Sue Wallace said the problem reaches beyond the Fourth of July. “I think the Fourth of July just brought it all to a head. The citizens need to realize that we do have a crime problem and we need to work together to deal with it.”

Authorities are developing ways to clean up next Independence Day. Among the ideas:

Shift change: Numerous officers spent the morning doing traffic and crowd control at the Fourth of July parade. Capt. Timmons would like to move more of those officers to the evening hours when crowds are more likely to misbehave.

Traffic control: The Police Department may ask parade organizers to find volunteers or hire their own traffic control next year in order to allow police officers to attend more serious problems, said Chief Dave Scates.

Sheriff Clegg also would like the Silverwood Theme Park to hire private traffic controllers to free up officers after its fireworks show North of Coeur d’Alene.

Alcohol patrols: “This year there was more alcohol in the park than there has been in a good many years,” Scates said. “That’s not going to happen again.”

Next year, the Police Department will have officers specially assigned to detect alcohol and write citations for illegal consumption in the city park and downtown.

Crowd control: Fireworks show organizers may be asked to hire crowd control workers, said city parks director Doug Eastwood.

“The show keeps getting bigger and bigger and the crowd keeps getting larger and larger,” Eastwood said. “We need some help with crowd control. The parks department is not qualified to do that and the Police Department is understaffed.”

Lost and found: Eastwood wants to see an information/lost and found booth set up during the holiday next year.

More officers: Taxpayers must decide whether they want more police on the streets - not only for large summer events but to handle the year-round growing population and crime, Brownlee said.

“The population has increased dramatically and the combined police forces haven’t increased,” he said.

Without more officers, Brownlee said, residents can expect the problems to continue.

“They can expect that it’s not going to be safe to take their children to Independence Point to watch fireworks,” Brownlee said.

, DataTimes