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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Terrorism Expert A Smart Hire

Larry Broadbent taught Kootenai County authorities a dozen years ago how important it is to track racism and its various offshoots.

To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

Alarmed by the presence of the Aryan Nations compound north of Hayden Lake, the late undersheriff devoted himself to studying bigotry and hate crime. At the time, Kootenai County stood at ground zero in a wrongheaded attempt by racists to transform the Northwest into a white stronghold.

Broadbent’s goal was to help his department deal with local crimes spawned by hate: malicious harassment, counterfeiting, bank robbery, bombings and murder. Before he died, the big-hearted cop had become a national expert on racism and was recognized as a human-rights leader.

Today, the rise of the militia, patriot and constitutionalist movements has made the task of policing the fringe right more complicated.

North Idaho needs another Broadbent.

Possibly, the region found him recently when the five North Idaho sheriffs hired terrorism expert Bill Litsinger, a retired Los Angeles police officer and Lewis-Clark State College instructor. His duty will be to collect information, monitor extremism and train officers how to deal with the right-wing fringe menagerie.

Small departments, without the personnel or training to handle radical ideologues, will benefit from Letsinger most. After all, this is Randy Weaver country. If nothing else, the FBI standoff with the Montana freemen showed the world, including sympathizers like Bo Gritz, how difficult the radicals can be.

For their own protection, lawmen should know how to handle a constitutionalist who refuses to license his car. Or what to do when a militia member or patriot slaps an annoying, bogus lien against them. Or how seriously to treat a patriot’s threat to seize the county courthouse.

Extremist activity has spread since Broadbent’s watch. It’s no longer enough simply to watch Richard Butler’s compound and keep the peace during the annual Aryan Nations congress each summer. Now, an ex-Ku Klux Klan leader is living near Sandpoint. Militia of Montana has headquarters just east of the Bonner County line. And skinheads are causing trouble on Coeur d’Alene’s Sherman Avenue.

The sheriffs were wise to confront the growing problem together. Let’s hope Litsinger is able to fill the big pair of shoes Broadbent left behind.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = D.F. Oliveria/For the editorial board