Department updates armory

North Idaho has a culture all its own, and no one knows that better than Kootenai County Sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger. An avid outdoorsman during his off hours, Wolfinger can freely rattle off a compilation of best-of fly fishing river hot spots. But the Panhandle culture – shaped from wide swathes of wilderness deep-rooted with individual liberties – has a darker side that law enforcement officers are encountering more and more frequently.

“We live in North Idaho where everyone has a rifle,” Wolfinger said. “We’ve always seen that here and it’s partly because that’s just the way life is in North Idaho.”

Unfortunately, he added, five out of the last nine officer-involved shootings were with suspects equipped with long-range weapons.

In an effort to be prepared for those inevitable encounters, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department recently purchased 80 assault rifles to outfit their nearly 75 sworn officers. The new patrol rifles will replace the department’s aging supply of 60 Ruger rifles, some of which are 30 years old.

“They are just worn out,” the captain explained. “During the last inspection, I think they pulled six of them off the line.”

The old Ruger Mini-14 rifles, which were traded in through a Montana vendor with proceeds put toward the new rifles’ purchase price of nearly $44,000, feature fixed wooden stocks and fire the popular .223-caliber cartridge. While the Mini’s are “a fine weapon,” Wolfinger said, like any mechanical device, over time they were beginning to show some wear and tear, especially with the firing mechanisms. So an upgrade had been long overdue.

“We had all ready budgeted for these because our existing stock was sorely depleting,” he said.

After some extensive research by the department’s armory, the Smith and Wesson model M&P-15 assault rifle was “by far the weapon of choice,” the captain said, adding that both the Coeur d’Alene Police Department and Idaho State Police also are equipped with the rifle.

Why the decision to go with assault rifles?

The department needs to at least be able to match the firepower of a suspect, like that of Jason Kenneth Hamilton in the deadly Moscow assault-rifle shooting earlier this year, Wolfinger said. “We have to be able to be prepared for that.”

After some extensive research by the department’s armory, the Smith and Wesson model M&P-15 assault rifle was “by far the weapon of choice,” the captain said. The semiautomatic weapon, which normally retails for more than $1,300 and is legally available to citizens, features a collapsible composite-plastic stock to better fit any officer’s frame, holds a 30-round magazine and will be on hand in every patrol officer’s and detective’s vehicle. That gives the officers a distinct advantage, Wolfinger added, since “we are all trained the same for the same weapon and we can exchange magazines.”

Another reason the Sheriff’s Department chose the roughly 7-pound rifle was due to its longstanding and honored history – the U.S. military’s similar M-16 fully-automatic assault rifle has been the primary weapon dating since the Vietnam War and is still in use in today’s war in Iraq.

That history adds up to a host of improvements for law enforcement, Wolfinger said, because rifle components are readily available – the department’s existing supply of .223-caliber ammunition also can be recycled since the new model fires those same rounds, and “you’ve got generations of people who are trained with this type of weapon.”

There’s also what’s called the “effect by observation” feature the menacing black rifle with a 16-inch flared barrel adds to any potentially precarious situation, the captain said. “There’s an intimidation factor that’s a good thing.”

Dennis Stinebaugh, a sergeant with the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department whose faulty Ruger rifle was pulled during the armory’s recent inspection, had previous experience with the assault rifle as a member of the county’s Special Response Unit. The new rifle, the sergeant said, is a welcome addition to his everyday patrol.

“The advantages would be the ease of use for the operator, it’s easier to maintain, and availability of parts,” Stinebaugh said. “I’m very familiar with this already.”

Every officer in the Sheriff’s Department will have to undergo a “transition training” session with the rifle. “It’s a combination (training), it’s a speed and accuracy drill,” Stinebaugh said. As part of the purchase a Smith and Wesson representative will attend the shooting tutorial to hit on some of the rifle’s finer points.

The guns will be stored in the department’s basement armory until the officers can be properly trained, likely after the department’s busy week while the North Idaho Fair is in town, Wolfinger said. The shipment came much sooner than anticipated following the approval of the department’s request by the Board of County Commissioners and the surplus “unanticipated funds” from last year’s budget.

The measure ensures that every officer will be readily prepared for unforeseen situations, said Commissioner Todd Tondee. “The need is definite.”