Sanders Beach owners turn to private security

Sanders Beach property owners have hired private security to patrol the popular Coeur d’Alene beach nights, weekends and holidays such as Independence Day.

The owners say it’s a way to educate the public about where private property ends and public land begins while getting better security than what the Coeur d’Alene police provide.

“It’s helped,” property owner Dick Barclay said. “The public is now being educated. That’s really the reason we hired the security police. Just to do it so we don’t have to walk down there.”

The homeowners share the undisclosed cost based on the percentage of shoreline they own between 12th and 15th streets.

The patrols by Northern States Security and Investigations began June 1.

Barclay said beachgoers respond much better to people in uniforms.

Northern States owner Joe Bettis said his staff are licensed merchant police officers through the city of Coeur d’Alene and carry Tasers. They have the same arrest powers as any citizen, he said.

“We’ve made two arrests and had to call the cops a couple of times,” Bettis said, adding most people are cooperative and gladly move to the city beaches that flank both sides of Sanders Beach. The city beaches have entry off 11th Street and in front of the Jewett House.

During the peak of afternoon heat Wednesday, the narrow strips of sand were packed nearly elbow to elbow with beachgoers. White powdery lines indicated where the public is no longer welcome. Between these strips, the wide beach was empty but for a cluster of people.

No security guards were spotted, and a person wading in the warm shallow water in front of the beach was not stopped.

An Idaho Supreme Court decision last September ruled that the invisible line where private property ends and public land begins is no higher than the summer level of the lake, or an elevation of 2,128 feet.

That essentially eliminated all public access to the beach that has been used by locals for a century.

The ruling gave the city clarity in where private property begins so it can enforce trespass laws – the reason Coeur d’Alene and Kootenai County filed a lawsuit in 2004 asking a judge to determine the legal high-water mark at Sanders Beach.

No court had ever made the exact determination, causing annual disputes between property owners and people using the beach.

Coeur d’Alene police spokeswoman Sgt. Christie Wood said she was unaware that the homeowners had hired private security and she wasn’t aware of any complaints about a lack of patrol.

“After that long court battle, it’s pretty clear that it’s private property,” Wood said.

Barclay said that the city stonewalled requests to put up signs informing the public about the invisible line where private property begins.

In addition to the security, Barclay has lined his beach and his neighbor’s with white lime to show people the boundary.

He said it works well but that on Monday he and his wife had to ask some people to move to the city beaches.

“They pretty much said ‘OK’ and moved over,” he said.

Attorney Mike Haman, who represents Coeur d’Alene, said the city isn’t obligated to put up signs and that the public generally knows what part of the beach is private.

He added that the Coeur d’Alene police patrol Sanders Beach just like any other area of the city and respond to calls in a reasonable manner.

“They don’t get special treatment,” Haman said. “Law enforcement is stretched thin, especially in the summer months.”