Busy weekend highlights seasonal struggles for SCSO

WALLACE –– It was a busy Memorial Day weekend for the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office – for all the wrong reasons.

Between 67 traffic stops, four serious motor vehicle accidents, multiple Life Flights, and a shooting, the holiday highlighted two major problems for the small agency.

Overcrowding and understaffing.

Patrol Capt. Seth Green manages the patrol division for the SCSO, which becomes a monumental task when the summer camping season begins.

Each year, from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend, thousands of people bring their campers and other recreational vehicles into Shoshone County – whether it’s the North Fork region of the Coeur d’Alene River, along the St. Joe River, or finding a remote and quiet spot up one of the many gulches or mountain creeks that branch off of the Silver Valley’s I-90 corridor.

Shoshone County is the eighth-largest county in Idaho but has one of the smallest police forces by comparison.

The Sheriff's Office wants people to come to Shoshone County to recreate and camp, citing the beauty of the area, and the diverse landscapes and activities that can be enjoyed, but there is a sinister side to it as well.

“We’ve been told on some occasions that people come here to recreate without a heavy law enforcement presence,” Green said. “When thousands of people come here every weekend and we only have 17 full-time road deputies, it just overloads our system. Our road Deputies are supplemented by reserve Deputies. The mass majority of people come here just to have a good time and follow the law and we welcome them to the area.”

“We responded to four serious accidents over the weekend and three of these accidents involved ATVs and UTVs,” Green said. “Two of these crashes involved alcohol and the majority of them were involving out-of-county individuals.”

There were four driving under the influence charges or arrests over Memorial Day weekend, according to Green, all four were people who do not reside in Shoshone County.

Due to the low number of deputies and the vast area they are required to cover, the increase in calls for reckless or drunk driving forces the SCSO and other agencies to prioritize what calls get responded to first.

Green explained how this creates a bigger safety issue because it divides their forces to a point where deputies have to respond to calls alone, instead of being able to call in and rely on backup in many cases.

“Unfortunately with low staffing, it creates very dangerous situations for our deputies,” Green said. “Situations like domestic calls, or situations involving alcohol, can be very dangerous to walk into alone. And these are happening regularly.”

These dangerous domestic situations Green alluded to include the shooting that occurred over the weekend.

Amid other calls and patrols, deputies responded to a reported shooting in a remote area of Shoshone County near the G&G Riverstop. Fortunately, the accident resulted in a non-fatal injury, and the victim is expected to make a full recovery. This highlighted the diverse and dangerous extremes that Green is concerned with when suddenly the population explodes and the coverage by law enforcement is stretched thin.

Despite this, Green stated the Sheriff's Office isn’t going to back away from providing as much law enforcement presence as he and his deputies can in hopes of dissuading lawless behavior.

“During the summer and these holiday weekends we expect higher-than-normal calls for service,” Green said. “We welcome all to our wonderful county to recreate but we insist on people following the law while they are here.”