Shoshone County Law Enforcement Sheriff: Tim Castle, Chuck Reynalds, Prosecutor: Henry Madsen, Val Siegel

No matter who Shoshone County voters choose for their top law enforcement officials, they’ll be in for a change.

In May’s primary election, voters ousted incumbent Sheriff Dan Schierman and Prosecutor John Cossel.

Now, in both races, all candidates are promoting themselves as a different direction for Shoshone County.

“I think the county was ready for a change,” said Democratic sheriff candidate Chuck Reynalds. “I think the deputies were ready for a change.”

Reynalds, a part-time patrol deputy for the sheriff’s department, faces independent candidate Tim Castle in the Nov. 7 general election. Castle runs a small Osburn security agency.

Henry Madsen, who beat Cossel by three votes in May’s Democratic party, is running against independent Val Siegel for county prosecutor.

Castle ran unsuccessfully against Schierman, a Democrat, in 1996. Castle said he’s sick of the department’s “good-old-boy network.”

“Law enforcement has the attitude of: The citizens are here to serve the police,” he said. “Law enforcement is to protect and serve.”

Reynalds isn’t as critical of the department. He said employee morale needs improving, and he can do it with “a more personable” and “open-door policy” approach.

“I’ll be more involved,” Reynalds said.

Both say the sheriff’s department must try to involve the public more.

Castle said he wants to create a citizens’ review board that would investigate allegations of deputy misconduct.

Reynalds said he wants to beef up the county’s search-and-rescue program and recruit more volunteer officers for the force.

Citizens are vital to helping combat the county’s methamphetamine problem, both said.

Reynalds said he wants to hire a full-time drug officer to work exclusively on methamphetamine labs. In addition, he wants more residents to participate in educational and block watch programs.

“That’s what the community wants,” he said.

Castle said he, too, wants to get citizens involved in reporting suspicious drug activities, but says there’s not a need for a full-time drug officer.

“Each officer would be following up on leads on a daily basis,” Castle said. He wants to use grant money to help fund anti-drug programs in the county.

Shoshone County prosecutor candidates say their biggest problem is methamphetamine.

“You’d have to be an ostrich with your head in the sand to not recognize that’s the main issue law enforcement faces,” independent candidate Val Siegel said.

Siegel, a Coeur d’Alene city prosecutor, faces off with Madsen, a Kootenai County deputy prosecutor.

Siegel, a former deputy attorney general who worked on drug cases for the Idaho Department of Law Enforcement, said he wants to begin asset forfeitures in methamphetamine cases.

In asset forfeitures, county officials can seize the belongings of people convicted of manufacturing or attempted manufacturing of methamphetamine.

Siegel said he wants to make sure the proper charges are applied to meth manufacturers, rather than plea bargains or reduced charges.

“What we’ve seen too often is (the charges) being reduced,” he said.

Madsen, who has worked as a deputy prosecutor for Kootenai County for seven years, said he wants to crack down on methamphetamine manufacturers.

“I want to send a message to those who are are out there … that there’s going to be a little more on their plates than a weekend in jail,” he said. “Don’t come to me telling me you didn’t do it.”

Madsen said he wants to create a service program for juveniles who are faced with the choice of using methamphetamine.

He said he also wants to create a youth court and have juvenile offenders help clean up the community and work with senior citizens.

“I think we need to go back to making people who have committed crimes publicly responsible,” he said. “A little humiliation goes a long way.”

Madsen said he’d like to create a truancy court for juveniles and a drug court patterned after Kootenai County’s.

In that court, first-time offenders who possess drugs are able to plead to their offense and get treatment.

If they successfully complete treatment, their charge is reduced.