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

Crime Taking Big Bite Out Of Budget As Crime And Costs To Fight It Rise, Kootenai County Officers Find Themselves Spread More Thinly

The costs of crime fighting will gobble up more than half the property tax money collected by Kootenai County in 1997.

That’s an average of $148 per landowner - up about $35 from three years ago.

Why the increase?

National studies show crime dropping across the country, but local crime fighters say law-breaking in North Idaho is growing faster than the tax base can pay for it.

While the money taxpayers cough up to fight crime rises every year, justice workers say it’s still not enough. The resulting shortage of dollars is changing the way justice is served.

Sheriff’s deputies respond slower to non-emergencies, sometimes leaving angry burglary or vandalism victims waiting for hours. Prosecutors let some misdemeanor offenders off, offering plea bargains or dropping charges to save money. Jail overcrowding and understaffing at the public defenders office put the county at risk of expensive lawsuits.

Meanwhile, the personal touch is vanishing for victims of minor crimes.

Twelve years ago, a homeowner with a smashed mailbox would get a visit from a deputy, said Sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger. Today, “maybe you’ll get a telephone call.”

In fact, some rural residents complain they’ve never seen a cop in their neighborhood, he said. In a few cases, “they’re probably right.”

Criminal justice at the county level alone now costs about $10 million.

After grants, fees, and income from tickets and court fines are subtracted, it still accounts for more than half the $15.7 million the county will will seek in property taxes next year.

Yet that’s hundreds of thousands of dollars less than criminal justice leaders, through their original budget requests, claim they need.

The county jail sought seven new technicians and a nurse. The public defender sought two lawyers a secretary and an investigator. The prosecutor’s office asked for two attorneys.

In fact, seven of the 12 county departments seeking the largest budget increases this year were offices that deal primarily with crime. They asked for a combined $1.6 million more than last year.

But rising budget requests run contrary to county commissioners’ goal of cutting property taxes. Commissioners - and the voters who elected them - wonder how best to get their money’s worth.

“The frustrating thing is this stuff is very hard to quantify,” said County Commissioner Dick Compton.

He doesn’t dispute anecdotal evidence that crime is climbing:

Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies responded to more incidents in the first six months of 1996 than they did in all of 1992.

Idaho’s prison population increased 18 percent in one year and county jail population is up 30 percent in 18 months.

Felony drug-related court cases - mostly methamphetamine - tripled just last year.

“We’re handling three open murder cases right now” - a first, said Prosecutor Bill Douglas said.

Douglas said he sometimes feels like General Douglas MacArthur during the Korean War: Bad guys “just keep coming and coming and coming,” he said.

But critics, including sheriff’s candidate Karl Thompson, said crime fighters should spend money wiser rather than ask for more.

The sheriff’s department said it has too few deputies - about 40, split into five shifts that patrol 1,300 square miles around the clock.

But the department only sought money for one new deputy, one new detective and more than $100,000 in computer equipment, Thompson said. Meanwhile, some non-emergency workers get unmarked “take-home” cars - an unnecessary expense.

“This budget confuses efficiency with effectiveness,” Thompson declared earlier this month. “Machines and technology can assist efficiency, but people are the decisive factor in effectiveness.

Undersheriff Gary Cuff insists new computer equipment would help back up the 911 system and other services. Commissioners also made it clear the county should limit new employees because the expense is there for years.

Detectives and others with unmarked cars, meanwhile, still must occasionally respond quickly to crime scenes, he said.

“The bottom line is they’re cops,” he said. “They keep all their gear stored in their cars and can be called upon in emergencies.”

Some crime costs also are largely outside government control and hard to explain to taxpayers.

This year, for example, commissioners raised questions when the sheriff sought $3,000 for new bullet-proof vests - even though his office had existing vests that had never been hit by a bullet. But manufacturers maintain Kevlar - the material used to make bullet-proof vests - breaks down when it mixes with body oils and is only insured for five years.

After that, distributors - including Kootenai County’s armaments supplier, Michigan-based Second Chance - won’t guarantee the vests will stop a shot.

Sheriff Pierce Clegg told commissioners earlier this summer he wouldn’t put a vest on any deputy without that guarantee.

As the West changes, it also gets tougher to effectively compare county crime spending with other places to guarantee efficiency, Administrator Tom Taggart said.

Deschutes, Ore., is often used. It has a similar number of residents - about 90,000. It’s once logging and timber-based economy is in transition to tourism, high-tech and manufacturing.

But in Oregon, county government pays for roads and libraries - not separate taxing districts, making it tough to compare Kootenai County’s $33 million budget to Deschutes - now $101 million.

Douglas compares his prosecuting staff - about 10 criminal attorneys - to Canyon County in southern Idaho - with a staff of a dozen. Crime patterns there are different, Taggart said.

But Douglas’ office had so many court appearances last year that communication sometimes got boggled, he said. That costs the county even more money.

Cops - subpoenaed as witnesses - aren’t always notified that a case has been rescheduled, he said. That leaves police officers getting paid to sit in court waiting for a case that never gets called.

“The bottom line is I need more bodies,” he said.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: 1. THE COST OF CRIME Today: Kootenai County is asked to shell out more money to fight rising crime. Coming Monday: A cash-starved public defender’s office faces lawsuits from criminals who claim they were poorly defended.

2. KOOTENAI COUNTY BUDGET REQUESTS Here are Kootenai County’s top 12 of 46 departments and the budget increase each sought at the beginning of budget season. Seven are crime related.

Department 1997 department proposed budget Increase from 1996 JAIL $3,042,064 $486,092 PUBLIC DEFENDER $824,972 $336,689 INFORMATION SERVICES $634,463 $291,471 911 CENTER $1,549,251 $285,925 JUVENILE PROBATION $760,865 $203,597 SHERIFF $4,155,639 $166,491 GENERAL ACCOUNTS $1,711,563 $149,347 PROSECUTOR $1,011,408 $90,930 SOLID WASTE $5,241,695 $79,090 INSURANCE $790,000 $70,000 BUILDING DEPARTMENT $412,839 $58,375 JUSTICE GENERAL ACCOUNTS $749,953 $45,171 SOURCE: Kootenai County preliminary budget, late July version.

This sidebar appeared with the story: 1. THE COST OF CRIME Today: Kootenai County is asked to shell out more money to fight rising crime. Coming Monday: A cash-starved public defender’s office faces lawsuits from criminals who claim they were poorly defended.

2. KOOTENAI COUNTY BUDGET REQUESTS Here are Kootenai County’s top 12 of 46 departments and the budget increase each sought at the beginning of budget season. Seven are crime related.

Department 1997 department proposed budget Increase from 1996 JAIL $3,042,064 $486,092 PUBLIC DEFENDER $824,972 $336,689 INFORMATION SERVICES $634,463 $291,471 911 CENTER $1,549,251 $285,925 JUVENILE PROBATION $760,865 $203,597 SHERIFF $4,155,639 $166,491 GENERAL ACCOUNTS $1,711,563 $149,347 PROSECUTOR $1,011,408 $90,930 SOLID WASTE $5,241,695 $79,090 INSURANCE $790,000 $70,000 BUILDING DEPARTMENT $412,839 $58,375 JUSTICE GENERAL ACCOUNTS $749,953 $45,171 SOURCE: Kootenai County preliminary budget, late July version.