Orofino Police seek victims of Shake It Off Fitness scam

Orofino Police Department is asking anyone who was victimized by the Shake It Off Fitness scam over Orofino Lumberjack Days to file a police report with them, if you have not already done so. Please stop by their office at 217 E 1st Street (across from Hanson Garage), or call (208) 476-5551.

Shake It Off Fitness was present at the 2015 Orofino Lumberjack Days. The company offered for purchase the machine, described as a set of fitness plates that the company claimed would assist with a person’s health and fitness levels in various ways, such as increasing circulation, improving blood pressure, and massaging muscles, amongst other things, according to Officer Skye Ortiz with Orofino Police Department.

Victims were convinced to pre-pay $1,549 for the plates, which the company claimed they would ship to them, according to Officer Ortiz. Officer Ortiz described the scam as a pyramid scheme. So far, no one who ordered the machine has received one.

There are victims in Lewiston and Nezperce as well, according to Officer Ortiz, who also explained that, due to the number of people who have been affected by this scam, the FBI has been contacted.

Lewiston Police Department has reported that Shake It Off was present at the Nez Perce County Fair as well, conducting the same scam.

If you purchased from or gave any money to Shake It Off Fitness, please file a police report with Orofino Police Department (or the law enforcement agency in your town) as soon as possible.

Orofino police seek public’s help in ATV theft cases

Orofino Police Department (OPD) is asking for anyone with information about a recent ATV theft and another attempted ATV theft, both of which occurred on Riverside, to contact them at 208-476-5551.

“These types of thefts/attempted thefts are highly irregular in our community,” said Orofino Police Chief Jeff Wilson in a press release.

The first theft occurred June 25 at a residence on 118th Street. The ATV, described as a white 2009 Suzuki King Quad 750cc, was reportedly stolen from an open garage area.

The individual who reported the theft indicated that the keys had been left with the ATV at the time of the theft. At this time the ATV has not yet been recovered, and the case remains active.

The second theft occurred July 14 at a residence near 111th Street. The reporting party in this case indicated that the ATV’s ignition had been punched, but it appeared the suspect or suspects were unable to get the machine started, so it was not removed from the area.
Anyone with information about either incident may stop by OPD’s office at 217 First Street, or call 476-5551.

“We are also asking the public to immediately report any suspicious late night activity in our neighborhoods,” said Wilson.

City Council seeks three new councilmembers

By Elizabeth Morgan

A note to those residents who would like to make a difference in the community by serving on Orofino City Council, here is your opportunity. There are currently three positions open; a councilmember’s term is for four years. Applications are available at City Hall and must be returned by Sept. 6.

A public hearing was held for each of the following items:

Fee increases

Burn permits will no longer sold for $2.50 but will now be available for $5. The permit will be good for 30 days.

The 10-year Wastewater Reserve Program will increase $5 beginning this October, until a $20 Cap has been reached in 2016. Fees from 2013-2016 will be placed in a Dedicated Reserve Program for future renovation of the Wastewater Treatment Plant. The new Reserve Program includes 150 Orofino/Whiskey Creek users as well as 850 city users.

The Budget for Fiscal Year 2013-2014 received a third reading and was passed. Annual Appropriation Ordinance No. 775 passed for the Fiscal Year beginning Oct. 1 2013, appropriating the sum of $15,046,110 to defray the expenses and liabilities for the City of Orofino.

Committee reports

At the city’s Building and Fire Committee meetings held in August, there was a discussion of City Ordinance 704 – Nuisance. Prosecuting Attorney Clayne Tyler was present to assist the council in finding a more efficient manner to dealing with the numerous properties that are repeatedly in violation of the Nuisance Ordinance.

Typically an owner is given 30 days to comply, and although this works for some of those in violation, often the property is cleaned up just enough to avoid prosecution, and allowed to return to its previous condition soon after, requiring the city to repeat the process all over again.

City officials are unanimously asking for a more aggressive approach when it comes to future nuisance violations. Owners will need to be in 100% compliance with the Building Official in cleaning up the property. Repeat offenders will no longer be given a time limit to comply, receiving a citation instead.

The Community Beautification Committee presented awards to the Winners for the Curb Appeal contest. The winner for the New Home Curb Appeal is Carol Crawford, and winners for the Existing Home Curb are Bill and Marlene Feldpausch.

Departmental reports

Building Official Todd Perry declared a building in the Riverside area to be dangerous. The owner received notice and has had 30 days to repair or demolish the property. In a recent inspection nothing appeared to have been done to comply. The owner will now be required to appear before the council to explain the reason for noncompliance.

Also up for discussion was the status of the zoning for the old school building. Now that the owners have been established it is now listed under the category of being owned by a private entity. But the city council still does not know the owners’ plans for the building.

An inspection is scheduled for the old section of the building among the State Fire Marshal and local Building and Fire Officials on Sept. 4. Once plans are made the city can go forward with safety requirements. The building was zoned P for public. Once a private entity purchases the building the zoning would typically be reverted to a C-2 Zone. More information and discussion will be necessary to proceed.

Enhanced patrol

Police Chief Jeff Wilson informed the council that in addition to the enhanced patrols for impaired driving, there was also an enhanced check on commercial vehicles this past week due to the number of complaints from the telephone company regarding lines being pulled down by trucks loaded too high. Several vehicles were cited for being overweight and only one for exceeding height. Patrols will take place later in the fall as well,

The speed trailers will be out throughout town and residential areas, to help remind drivers of reduced speeds and to use extra caution near schools and crosswalks.

Wilson also announced that his department was gearing up for Fair Days. Signs will be posted the night before the parade to help clear cars off the parade route. “We almost always have two to three vehicles that are left on the street. We plan to close Michigan Avenue to through traffic a little earlier this year. It would be nice for once to have the whole parade route from B St. on Michigan, up Johnson, and all the way to Les Schwab, clear for the parade,” he added.

There will be one-way traffic on Brown and Kalaspo avenues during the parade. Everything will be blocked off Michigan Avenue between B and A streets beginning at 9:40-9:50 a.m. for the parade.

Mike Martin, Supervisor for Water/Wastewater informed the council of the continued progress of the new water plant. Work crews will return after Labor Day and leave again before Lumberjack Days. He also mentioned that one of the city’s dump trucks was cited for being overweight, recently.

Fire Chief Mike Lee claimed he would be praying for rain from now till the end of summer. Many of his crew was out helping neighbors fight fires. Lee also confirmed that no fires of any kind would be permitted.

Council comments

It was mentioned that the sound system is still in need of updating, with continued comments of the public not being able to hear.

Superintendent and police chief discuss school safety

By Alannah Allbrett

School Superintendent, Bob Vian, spoke out about one of America’s biggest concerns right now, the safety of our children in the public school system. Mr. Vian brings with him many years of experience in leadership and administrative roles in both the Idaho and Oregon school systems as well as that of having been a teacher.

Mr. Vian said when he came to Timberline Schools (TLS) as Principal, he brought with him the emergency plan used in Oregon but found it was not applicable here. “The schools are so dissimilar,” he said “that it had no basis here.” In Klamath Falls, Oregon, where he was the principal, they had one single building with a single entrance. Joint School District #171, which consists of Orofino, Timberline, Peck, and Cavendish schools, are diverse structures. Both Orofino and Pierce high schools have outer shop buildings – separate from the main buildings. Neither school has an out front office entrance, separate from the main building. At OHS, for instance, one must enter double doors in front, go up several steps, and proceed down a hallway to enter the office doors inside the school – not the best setup for school security.

As Mr. Vian pointed out, when our schools were built, security was not the issue that it is today because shootings at schools were unheard of. “Nowadays,” he said, “school safety is something we always think about. Things are better today than they were a year ago, however. The buildings are significantly more secure. But you have to realize these buildings were built at a time when no one could anticipate this” he said.

He added, “This year, we’ve attempted to lock as many outside doors as possible, directing the public to enter in only one or two areas.” When asked what communication systems are in place he said that nowadays everybody carries a cell phone, and Orofino Police Officer Monte Toombs works closely with the school. He has thought of the possibility of getting prison staff involved in the event of an emergency, in securing the facilities, as they are close and already trained in security issues.

Speaking of crises training in the schools, Mr. Vian said they have begun to practice “lockdown drills.” During a lockdown drill, rooms are locked, and children are pulled out of the hallways and instructed to stay away from windows and doors where they would be visible to anyone outside. Police are notified when schools are conducting a drill, and Officer Toombs has been present to watch the drills take place. Vian said that Toombs attended a meeting Wednesday morning, Jan. 9, with the principals of both OHS and OES. “Drills took place at least twice here,” he said, “before the recent shootings in Connecticut occurred.”

Vian said that ultimately, safety issues are their number one concern “Any security measures need to be done building by building. As the Superintendent, it [responsibility] comes back to me, but I task that out to the principals because each building is different. Our motto here is ‘slow an intruder down,’ put as many obstacles in the way as possible.” With that in mind, the schools are now attempting to keep outside doors locked where possible – a big undertaking considering OHS alone has 12 outside doors and students, and staff alike, are not used to having locked doors.

Vian said things are a little different in Pierce, being situated in Clearwater County, not Orofino proper. Sheriff Deputy, and School Resource Officer, Dave Koontz, maintains an office at Timberline. “He spends a couple hours a week up there. Sometimes, he just catches up on reports, but he’s in the building so that the kids get to know him,” said Vian. “Peck, though part of our school district, is in Nez Perce County. In the event of an emergency Orofino Police Department and Clearwater County Sheriffs would, no doubt respond. As they have mutual response plans.”

Police Chief Jeff Wilson corroborated: “It is very possible that Clearwater County and Orofino PD would respond to Peck. We are often closer to Peck than any Nez Perce County deputies so if any serious incident occurs in the Peck area we may be requested by Nez Perce County to respond and we would do so upon that request.”

“Video recording systems are in place in both Timberline and OHS” said Mr. Vian. “We were able to get good video of the guys walking down halls when the school burglary took place” [last year]. “Although they had masks on, we could tell other important details that helped identify them” said Mr. Vian.

When asked if students understand the purpose of lockdown drills, Vian said, “The kids, fifth grade and above probably do, and we just tell them we’re going to have a drill. The younger kids don’t need a reason and usually respond better to directions.” Different kinds of drills are held, for example, if an angry parent shows up wanting to remove their child versus someone seen entering the school with a gun.

“We’re required by law to have a fire drill every month, and two earthquake drills a year,” said Vian. “We should be doing safety drills once a month and we’re working towards that. We’re trying to determine what the best safety drill is. Officer Toombs is putting a drill together now.”

Orofino Police Chief, Jeff Wilson, said they partner with the schools in assisting them with the lockdown drills and have, for years, made safety recommendations as to what kinds of access the public should or should not have to the schools. He stated that the schools should have the ability to lock people out, but it’s costly to carry out the safety measures which should be undertaken. He stated, “At the present time there is no way to know for sure if an intruder has entered a school building.”

Wilson said, “Locked doors may give a false sense of security, however, as an intruder can throw a rock or break glass to get inside a building.” Wilson elaborated on the difference between a Code Red versus a Code Yellow Drill Procedure. Without going into details about the procedures themselves, he said the nature of a Code Red drill covers steps students, teachers, and administrators are to take in the event of an intruder being INSIDE the school building. Code Yellow covers steps to be taken if an intruder is OUTSIDE the building.

Wilson said, “There has been a tremendous amount of money that has been put into fire safety – from the cost of the school structures being made out of non-flammable materials, to sprinkler systems." He went on to say, “To my knowledge, over the last 30 years, no student in the United States has ever died due to a school fire. But we’ve lost hundreds of children in schools due to lack of school security. Comparing the amount of money spent for fire safety protection to dollars spent on school security for the safety of students and teachers,” Wilson said, “we haven’t even scratched the surface.”

Mr. Vian stated that the schools’ main job is to provide a safe school environment. “If kids don’t have a safe environment,” he said, “then no learning takes place. There are some things we could do, but it would take a million and a half dollars to make all our schools safe.” When asked what measures he would take if money were no object, Vian said that he would build a new office in front of OHS. On his dream list would be, connecting the shops with the main buildings at both high schools so that the students never had to leave the building. “That would take a few hundred thousand dollars,” Vian said. He would like to see an entry system in place, at the elementary level, where a visitor would step into an entry hall, and have to be ‘buzzed’ through at the second door. “That could be done relatively cheaply,” he said. The very least that could be done at this time would be to provide all schools with doors which may be locked to the outside, but still provide rapid exit from the inside. Mr. Vian stated that, as a private citizen, he is a gun owner himself, but that today’s safety issues in schools do not revolve solely around the use of guns but also stem from poor mental health care programs in this state. Chief Wilson concurred that Idaho has consistently had one of the least effective mental health programs in the U.S. due to lack of funding dollars allotted to that area.

Orofino’s latest member of the police force, signing on for duty

 

Officer Mike Shore, of the Orofino Police Department, is shown with the department’s new K-9 dog “Pia,” a two year old Dutch Shepherd trained to sniff out four specific illegal drugs.

By Alannah Allbrett

“Pia,” a two year old Dutch Shepherd police dog, now calls Orofino home. The K-9, originally from Germany, was picked up approximately a week ago at the Spokane, WA airport and will reside with Officer Mike Shore and his family in a kennel especially constructed for her by Public Works employees, Tyson Cobb and Jeremy Gering.

Pia will be kept indoors in the cold weather. Pia eats “Red Flannel hooch chow,” a high-energy, high-protein dog food, according to Shore, which the department is able to purchase at Whipple’s Feed.

“So far, she is adjusting well,” said Officer Shore who worked with a K-9 narcotics dog for one year in Georgia before joining OPD. He was a certified dog handler in that state and will be taking the required test for certification in Idaho. Pia is a “high-strung” young dog who has to adjust to crossing time zones, new handlers, new smells, new food, and a new home. Shore said that she is highly trained and her primary purpose will be drug detection, and protection of a police officer in situations involving an aggressive offender. “She will be a great drug dog; all she wants to do is work,” he said.

Officer Shore has a two year old child who is watching from a distance, fascinated at this new member of the family. Naturally, the child is segregated and has only watched Pia from a distance. As the dog becomes more familiarized with the family, proves obedient and safe, she will gradually be able to interact with the child a little more.

Pia is provided from a company called: K-9 Working Dogs International, LLC that specializes in training police K-9‘s. The cost of the animal, after a $3,000 grant, is $8,000, and her training is guaranteed.

Some police dogs are trained specifically for narcotics. Others are trained to handle aggressive offenders. Pia will be cross-trained to serve both functions. The dog will remain the property of OPD and stay with the department in the event of a change in handlers in the future.

K-9 “Pia” coming to OPD

By Alannah Allbrett

Police Chief, Jeff Wilson gave a video presentation to the Orofino City Council, Tuesday, November 27, showing training exercises of Orofino’s soon-to-be newest addition to the force, K-9 dog named Pia.

Pia is a 1½ to two year old Dutch Shepherd from Germany that is scheduled to arrive in Orofino Thursday, Dec. 7. She will be brought to her new home via the Spokane, WA airport.

Pia is provided from a company called: K-9 Working Dogs International, LLC that specializes in providing dogs trained in police work. Some dogs are trained specifically for narcotics. Others are trained to handle aggressive offenders. Pia will be cross-trained eventually.

The dog will be the property of OPD and stay with the department in the event of the handler transferring to another location. A special kennel was constructed at handler, Officer Mike Shore’s home where the dog will be housed. Pia will be kept indoors in the cold weather.

The Orofino Public Works Department helped to construct the dog’s shelter at a cost of approximately $115 for materials from Orofino Builders Supply.

This police dog has been specially trained to recognize and find several narcotic substances including: heroin, cocaine, methamphetamines, and marijuana. Her trainers believe that she is even tempered, obedient, and probably one of the best possible K-9 candidates available.

The owners believe that Officer Shore is already competent to handle the dog and will become certified to use the dog in patrol. Other law enforcement agencies will participate in a future six week course and split the cost of training with OPD.

To see training videos of Orofino’s newest part of the team visit these websites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esmObl6l_cY&feature=youtube_gdata_player and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9XiSk4bsbw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

On the highway with OPD

By Alannah Allbrett

“Up against the car; hands behind your back! Feet back, and spread ‘em!” Just kidding! Those weren’t the words Orofino Police Department (OPD) Officer Matt Russell (pictured above) said to me Nov. 2 when I stood beside his 2009 Dodge cruiser with St. Michael on the sun visor. What he actually said was, “You’re the first person to ride with me in a long time, who I wasn’t taking to jail.” I came armed with a laptop, a tape recorder, a notebook and pen, and a lot of curiosity as I joined him for a ride-along on his swing shift in Orofino.

What did I expect? Well, I sort of pictured us s*l*o*w*l*y cruising through sleepy neighborhoods, an occasional dog barking in otherwise quiet streets, routine drives down back alleyways and a little boredom thrown into the mix. What I got was carsick trying to write in the dark on my lap – in a sometimes fast moving and rarely standing still vehicle.

First I’m going one direction down Hwy. 12 – nope, now we are going the other way. What’s that? There’s something in the road? We turn around and stop in the middle of the highway, lights flashing. It turns out to be a bunched up tarp somebody dropped or blew off of a vehicle. Officer Matt retrieves it quickly and stows it in the trunk. Later we swing by the police station to drop it off; he hasn’t got room to haul around extra stuff.

I soon found that cramming into the tight fitting passenger side of the car, with a Tough Book laptop mounted to my left, a long flashlight mounted by my left kneecap, a radar gun (looking like a remote control with a curly telephone cord), a hand-held drivers’ license scanner, and some other gadgets I was afraid to touch – that this was not going to be an easy night. I resorted to taking notes the old fashioned way, with a notebook and pen.

‘I’m tough,’ I told myself. ‘If he can take it, I can take it!’ So, with my laptop case as a desk, and my purse on the floor between my feet (hey, I’m old, gotta have a purse) – I proceed to play reporter asking lots of questions of this nice young man who has helped me out in the past, more than once.

One time, on a hot summer day, I locked myself out of my car (I know, I know) while getting gas at IGA. I went into the store wondering what to do. It was after business hours, so I couldn’t call a locksmith, even if I knew of one. I was tired, thirsty, and embarrassed to have done such a stupid thing.

Karen Wolfe, at the service desk, bought me a bottle of water with her own money and said she’d call the police for help. ‘The police?’ I thought. I’m from a big city, and it never would have occurred to me to call the police for something like getting locked out of one’s car. Soon, Matt was on the scene to help me. It was tricky; he didn’t want to break the automatic locking system, so he called in Mickey of JV Lock & Key to help. (Thanks Mickey. Thanks Karen!) Another time, my car was vandalized, and Matt was there taking pictures and writing a report.

We make a stop to fuel the car then are heading past Tri-Pro to pick up a service revolver from another officer. One of Matt’s jobs is to perform regular maintenance on service weapons to make sure they are in proper firing order. As we pass the mill, Matt says that he grew up playing in back of it with other kids.

It was never part of his plan to come back to his hometown after finishing POST training in Pocatello’s Idaho State University. But he worked for Clearwater County Sheriff Department as the resident deputy in Weippe before joining OPD. ‘How’s that going for you?’ I asked him. “So far I approve,” he answered. It’s challenging enough to be in law enforcement without serving in the town where you grew up; where a former classmate might think he gets special treatment instead of a deserved DUI.

With the service revolver picked up and secured in the trunk, we are heading back towards town on Michigan Avenue. Up ahead, a small sedan has a white light showing on the rear end below the taillight. “Local 32090, white Subaru” Matt says into his mic. The dispatcher comes back with the registered owner’s name and city of residence.

Matt thumps the keyboard of his built-in laptop and verifies the driver’s information. He waits until the driver is in a straight area with room to pull off, then turns on his lights. One can almost feel the driver’s heart thumping as she slows down and pulls off the road. “You know you’re giving her a heart attack,” I say. “Mmmmhm” comes the reply as he steps out of the squad car, closes the door, and carefully approaches the stopped vehicle.

With the observation camera filming the scene in front of me, I watch as he reaches down and checks the tail light area and then steps forward to talk to the driver. Turns out to be a middle aged lady from Lenore. No, she did not know she had a backup light stuck on. She is given a courtesy warning and the opportunity to fix it, Matt calls in “clear” on the radio, finishes entering information in his computer, and we move on.

‘Do you run a regular circuit around town?’ I ask. He replies in the negative, “I try not to get into predictable patterns or habits.” We make another run down the highway and back before heading towards the high school. Matt turns on his spotlight, and checks the doors and windows at the school. He responds to the dispatcher many times during the night, turning the radar on and off with the approach of passing cars. He explains what the lights on the radar equipment stand for and the various beeps it makes. One kind of chirp indicates a misreading on the radar that might happen as three cars approach at the same for instance.

We are in the downtown area of Orofino, it’s a Friday night, and three teen-aged girls are laughing and yelling to each other as they meander toward the theatre. Another woman hesitates by a car. Matt watches to make sure she is not in trouble. He explains that her behavior looked curious, and he wanted to know that she was alright. A couple more loops on the highway, and we are back downtown again. By this time I had gotten myself good and queasy from trying to write, ask questions, and watch the road as we traveled.

It’s very dark, and I’ve abandoned any type of note taking, I switch to my tape recorder as we ride along – except for the radio, it’s quiet for the moment. We cross Orofino Bridge, and Matt is checking out a pickup in front of us that has some kind of metal object sticking up behind the rear window. He gets closer to take a look. From my angle, it looks like the side of a tool box that is open; it doesn’t appear to be a problem.

We loop through town and I ask to be let out of the car to catch my breath. Matt drops me off and tells me when he will pick me up again. I offer to give him my cell number – silly me, of course, it’s right there on his screen when he enters in my name. I decide to sit on a bench, and get my stomach back where it belongs by sucking in some cold night air.

A car comes by where I am sitting; it occurs to me how odd this must look, a lady sitting on a bench downtown on a cold night. The car comes around the block a couple more times. I begin to wonder how smart my idea is. I stow my bulky computer case in my car so that I have more leg room when I get back on board with what the police do on a regular basis, night after night. I ask Matt if it’s unusual to see a car repeatedly circling the block like that. He tells me that sometimes, in the course of a night, he will pass the same car several times while making his rounds.

Deer are everywhere – in the park, on street corners, behind the bank on Michigan Ave, in the cemetery, up behind the high school, in front of the library. Oh look, there’s a buck standing on a slope watching us as we go up the hill into a Riverside subdivision. Matt tells me what a common problem they are and how easy it is to hit one. One rolled across his hood not too long ago, putting him on the infamous list of officers who have collided with Bambi.

I was not feeling too friendly towards the ungulate population myself after having an encounter of that kind the week before. They are a known problem in this area, especially this time of the year, and don’t make it any easier for him to get to where he’s going.

It turns out to be a night of “vehicle violations,” broken tail lights, only one head light, no lights – over and over again. Matt pulls a pickup over near the transfer station road. He knows the entire family in the pickup. He tells me afterwards that his job is mostly “talking to people.” Whether that means talking to them about broken equipment, giving them a citation, or booking them and taking them to jail – basically, he still has to communicate the problem with them.

He doesn’t always gain agreement, but in the case of a warning about a broken light, he’s doing them a favor. Besides making it safer on the road, it saves the driver money. “A part that might cost them $12 to $15 to fix is a lot cheaper than a ticket,” he says. Unfortunately, they might have been warned several times already and have ignored the problem.

A property owner, who lives in another town, but owns a house in Riverside, has asked that the recently vacated house be checked. After giving the house a onceover, Matt pulls into the narrow driveway, gets out his flashlight and walks around the house checking inside the windows. Nothing appears amiss.

The flashlight snaps into a charging unit, but of course I’m not able to do that simple task. We are in the Forest Service parking lot, and I get out again to gulp air, as Matt replaces the flashlight. More deer.

We head back into town: more radar checks, more vehicle stops, and so it goes. We turn around on Riverside Avenue, and as we approach the intersection near the bridge, Matt flips on his right turn signal. Okay, this is too much. ‘You’re not taking me back out on that highway again are you?’ I whined. And away we go.

Previously, I pointed out to Chief Wilson when I signed a safety waiver, that there was nothing in the agreement about backseat driving – in this case from the front seat. He assured me though, that that was not acceptable behavior. He didn’t say anything about me not whining.

We’re watching traffic alongside the highway, in a turnout by the Clearwater River where city lights shine across the water. A vehicle in the oncoming lane flicks on his brights, warning another car that the police are watching.

Matt checks some more streets, and then turns around where Mountain Motor Sports used to be. As we pull out on the road, we feel something under the tire and hear a small thump. Matt turns around to see if something is in the roadway. Nothing was spotted, but he checked anyway to make sure it was safe. I asked him if he’s ever recorded how many miles he puts on the road in one week. He has no idea, but is sure it’s well over a hundred miles. Matt pulls over a blue, Chevy pickup after calling in the plates. He comments that the driver doesn’t like the LED’s (flashing lights) any better than he does. But it’s a necessity.

Another officer is going to meet with Matt later that evening to take care of some police business, do I want to come along? ‘Well gee, this has been educational and everything’ I think to myself, but all I can think about is getting out of that car.

In terms of vehicle accidents (thankfully there were none) or arrests, it was a quiet night. In terms of danger on the road – watch out for deer and drunk drivers. Sometimes there is a lot more activity, and some nights it gets very quiet and he is able to catch up on paperwork in the office in the wee hours.

Matt said he was taught keyboarding (typing) in school, but he was never taught to type while driving. “It’s an acquired skill,” he says. The multi-tasking a police officer has to do, the verbal questioning, the checking of every little detail when passing a car, the recording of incidents – is simply amazing. There are a LOT of acquired skills.

The next time your heart is thumping as you are being pulled over, count yourself lucky that someone was looking out for your safety. Not everybody likes police. According to Chief Wilson, no one likes enforcement. I have never heard anyone complain, though, about feeling too safe in their neighborhood. Your job may seem hard sometimes, but hey, when was the last time you had to put on a bullet proof vest just to do it?

The Orofino Police Department has an interactive website where people may read news bulletins, email an officer, or read the Chief’s Blog. Check it out at: www.orofinopd.com. 

[Note: vehicles and licenses for this article are fictional.]

OPD Christmas 911 is off to a good start

King’s Department Store of Orofino donated an abundance of toys, clothing and other items to the Orofino Police Departments third annual Christmas 911 project. Pictured (l to r) are Orofino Police Chief Jeff Wilson; OPD Office Manager, Renée Hedrick; Laura Wolverton of King’s, and Officer Matt Russell.

Once again, the Orofino Police Department (OPD) will be sponsoring and participating in the Christmas 911 project, a project which provides food, clothing, and toys to children with a need.

King’s Department Store of Orofino has generously kick-started the Christmas 911 giving for this season by donating a wide selection of items for children. The gifts range from gloves and warm clothing to toys like talking Kung Fu Panda, baseball bats, Air Hockey, and high chairs for babies.

A big thank you is extended from OPD for the many items that will make Christmas extra special for children in Orofino.

The last two years the Orofino Police Department has been providing full Christmas dinners and gifts to families in our area who have experienced hardship, and most likely would not have had much for Christmas. 

The department collected donations from businesses and community members and raised over $5000 in the first year and tallied over $9,000 last year.  They were able to provide meals and nice gifts to 16 families the first year and helped 26 families last year. 

The meals included turkeys, hams, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, rolls, vegetables, milk, and desserts. The gifts were age appropriate for all children in the family under the age of 18 and were of extremely nice quality. The needs of each child were identified early so that many of the gifts accommodated actual needs.