Hayden considering police force
More residents mean more crime, but they don’t necessarily mean a lot more money in city coffers.
After years of growth, the once-sleepy town of Hayden is wide awake and looking to start its own police force, but to do so city officials must find the funds to hire the officers they need.
“We need to be looking beyond the short-term need. We need to be looking at the long-term need,” said Hayden city administrator Jay Townsend.
That long-term outlook could include adding 1,800 new residents to the city of 13,000 if officials approve the Hayden Canyon development.
City officials have just begun analyzing what it will take to start a Hayden police force with a goal of reaching a decision by summer.
They know that crime in the community is increasing.
Last year 131 burglaries were reported in Hayden compared with 99 in 2003. Drug calls increased from 24 to 62 over the same time period.
Right now Hayden is patrolled by the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department which is charged with law enforcement in both incorporated and unincorporated areas. Cities like Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls have formed their own police departments, but still receive mutual aid from sheriff’s deputies, said Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson.
Those deputies are charged by Idaho law to enforce all state laws, but are not mandated to enforce each city’s individual municipal codes. Cities may use their own police to enforce those laws or contract with the sheriff’s department to have deputies enforce them.
“Cities usually start their own departments when they want a higher level of service,” Watson said.
Hayden had been contracting with the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department for increased service at a cost of about $275,000 per year, but the county canceled the contract because it didn’t have the manpower to provide the services of six deputies and one detective above and beyond the county’s service level of 1.2 officers per 1,000 residents.
“We can’t give them the extra right now,” Watson said, adding the department is still trying to rebuild its ranks after deputies left for higher paying jobs outside the county.
A Hayden police department at the state recommended size of 1.6 officers per 1,000 citizens would need 21 officers.
Numbers of officers aren’t the only reason to start a department. Having a dedicated police force inside the city means that officers would be there when crime happened.
Although the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department does have a Hayden patrol section, the city still shares deputies with other communities in the county, and those deputies can be miles away when calls come in for help.
Right now the department’s average response time to a life-threatening call is 14 minutes, Watson said. He’d like that to be four or five minutes, but the geographic size of the county can create problems.
Still, if Hayden officials and citizens want their own police force they will have to find a way to pay for it.
“Given the resources we have today, we couldn’t provide that level of service,” Townsend said, adding that money just isn’t in the city’s general fund budget.
Hayden’s general fund budget is just $18 million, of which only $830,000 comes from property taxes, Townsend said. The rest is raised through intergovernmental revenue, grants and fees.
Even with new businesses bringing their tax base to town, a Hayden police force would almost certainly require higher property taxes or a special levy, Townsend said.
That’s something Hayden citizens will have to debate and decide.