KPD Chief Paul Twidt takes the reins

KELLOGG — It’s not easy to take over for someone with such an illustrious career as former Kellogg Police Chief Dave Wuolle, but Chief Paul Twidt is going to do his darndest.

Wuolle decided to call in a career last year after spending 34 years in law enforcement, the past 17 as Kellogg’s Chief of Police.

The transition from Wuolle’s retirement to the promotion of Chief Twidt has been smooth, due largely to Twidt’s working closely with Wuolle throughout his career.

“Dave made it pretty smooth. We also have a great group of guys, making my job a lot easier. And most of the current staff were his hires,” Twidt said.

Chief Twidt and the Kellogg Police Department (KPD) currently have six officers and one sergeant covering the 4.01 square miles of the largest city in Shoshone County.

“I had some pretty big shoes to fill after Chief Wuolle left. In my opinion, you have to have a mixture of officers,” Twidt said. “You need officers that are super good with the public, another officer who is good at giving out warnings. You need a great mix of officers to make a good department, and I definitely have that.”

Twidt grew up in the Silver Valley, graduating from Kellogg High School in 1991, but didn’t immediately choose law enforcement as his career.

“Right out of high school, I went to North Idaho College and took a carpentry class, and eventually came back to Kellogg and worked at Silver Mountain for 10 years doing lift maintenance,” Twidt told the News-Press.

While his time working up at the mountain, one of his coworkers mentioned that he was good friends with the current chief, Larry Irvine, and noted that there was a position open.

“I’ve been at it ever since,” he said. “There’s always the learning curve. The job has its highs and lows.”

Twidt worked under Chief Irvine for five years before Chief Wuolle was promoted, working beneath him for the remainder until Wuolle’s retirement.

Twidt was one of the humorous writers behind the Kellogg Police Department Roll Call on Facebook and published by the Shoshone News-Press.

“That started a while back by Jason Woody, the assistant chief at the time,” Twidt said. “It slowly evolved, and he handed it over to me when he went to work in Osburn.”

Twidt explained that the officers submit a daily activity report for their shift, including a brief event description — they took the opportunity to use part of their daily workflow to show the lighter side of their job while also showing the humanity of law enforcement.

“In their briefs, they threw in some humor, so I started translating that, throwing in some of my own humor, and expanding on the situation,” he said with a chuckle. “We wanted to show that we are human. We don’t always do car chases, sometimes we literally save cats out of trees.”

Above all else, Twidt is grateful for the opportunity afforded by the city of Kellogg.

“I’m so thankful for the city of Kellogg, the mayor and Chief Wuolle for giving me the opportunity and trusting me to take over,” he said.

The business office of the Kellogg Police Department is located at Kellogg City Hall and is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

To get ahold of KPD during business hours for non-emergency services, call 208-786-9131; after regular business hours, you can call the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office at 208-556-1114, and they will dispatch a KPD officer. For any emergencies, call 911.