White House visit assures CdA chief

Coeur d’Alene police Chief Lee White went to the White House on Wednesday for a briefing on community-oriented policing, and left confident his department already is doing a lot of what federal officials recommend.

White and other police chiefs were invited to the 21st Century Policing briefing hosted by the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs. Parts of the presentation touched on ways to build trust with residents, work with neighborhoods on crime reduction and develop clear policies for use of force and handling mass demonstrations.

“I think what this group is looking for is buy-in from police chiefs on their initiatives, and it’s not really hard to do, because frankly a lot of this is things we’re already doing,” White said in a phone interview after the four-hour briefing.

Since he was hired almost two years ago, White has assigned officers to focus on crime trends and neighborhoods with frequent calls for service. He also has pushed for greater cooperation with community groups, emphasized warnings over issuing of citations and made it easier to obtain police records/Scott Maben, SR. More here (subscription required).

Question: Is there something you’d like to see the Coeur d’Alene Police Department doing that it isn’t already doing?