Kootenai County Sheriff's Office

With 18 lakes and 56 miles of navigable river, Kootenai County in North Idaho keeps its sheriff's marine deputies busy, especially between May 1 and September 15 when the Recreation Safety Section is at full strength; the county counts more than 24,000 registered boaters, the most in Idaho, and the unit also teaches certified boating courses and runs backcountry patrols. The Operations Bureau, the office's largest, is split into Patrol and Detective divisions, with patrol deputies conducting the first investigation of most crimes. A Traffic Team dating to 1998 targets collisions, four dual-purpose K-9 teams handle patrol and drug detection, and a SWAT team with embedded crisis negotiators takes barricades, hostage calls and high-risk warrants. The Support Bureau runs the 911 Communications Center, the county's primary public safety answering point, along with records, a driver's license office for the Idaho Transportation Department and a Civil Section that serves process and notices as Idaho Code 31-2202(8) requires. The Jail Bureau feeds, houses, transports and medicates inmates and oversees labor and work release programs, backed by a chaplain corps.