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Task force shows off crime scene tools

Eric Clemensen of the FBI, right, points out the features of the new Crime Scene Unit to Shoshone County Sheriff Chuck Reynalds, second from left, and Post Falls Police Lt. Scot Haug on Tuesday at the Post Falls Police Department. Below is a fingerprint kit on board the crime scene trailer. (Photos by JESSE TINSLEY / The Spokesman-Review)
Taryn Brodwater Staff writer
Eric Clemensen of the FBI, right, points out the features of the new Crime Scene Unit to Shoshone County Sheriff Chuck Reynalds, second from left, and Post Falls Police Lt. Scot Haug on Tuesday at the Post Falls Police Department. Below is a fingerprint kit on board the crime scene trailer. (Photos by JESSE TINSLEY / The Spokesman-Review)

It’s not quite “CSI Idaho,” but it’s close.

The newly formed North Idaho Regional Violent Crime Task Force unveiled its new Crime Scene Unit on Tuesday. The fully stocked evidence trailer is ready to roll to major crime scenes in Idaho, Utah or Montana.

The show and tell came as seven officers from state and local agencies were federally deputized to form the task force. Members of the team will work out of a central office in Kootenai County investigating crimes that reach beyond one agency’s jurisdiction.

Over the past few months, the task force has been quietly working on several high-profile cases, uncovering two murder-for-hire plots and investigating a string of drive-by shootings in Post Falls, said Donald Robinson, supervisory senior resident agent in charge of the Coeur d’Alene FBI office.

Robinson said the federal deputization will allow task force members to more easily go into other jurisdictions – even cross state lines – and allow them to serve federal search warrants and use federal wiretaps for surveillance operations.

The effort is funded through the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force National Initiative. Though each participating agency pays the base salary for its investigator, the FBI will cover overtime expenses, Robinson said.

The Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls police departments, Idaho State Police, Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office and Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department have joined the FBI in the effort.

Robinson said the task force was an outgrowth of the investigation of Joseph Duncan, who was convicted last fall for the murders of three members of a Wolf Lodge family.

“Everyone got along together well,” Robinson said of the law enforcement agencies that worked together on the triple-murder and kidnapping case. “As the case was winding down, we said, ‘Let’s keep this cooperation going.’ “

Robinson said the goal is to stay ahead of the crime problem, focusing on violent crimes, drug crimes and problems with gangs.

“There are a lot of smaller departments here,” he said. “We’re stronger together than we are apart.”

Post Falls police Lt. Greg McLean said the department used to participate in a major crimes task force based out of Coeur d’Alene. Over the years, the task force dwindled to only four investigators.

The regional task force gives the department the resources of a dozen investigators, if needed.

“It helps us because they can take our leads and try to track down people we need to interview,” McLean said. “It leaves our detectives with the ability to investigate the scene.”

Nationwide, the FBI has more than 170 Safe Streets task forces focused on gangs and violent crime.