Kootenai County Commissioner Proposes More Drug Dog Searches in Idaho Schools
A Kootenai County commissioner is pushing for expanded drug-sniffing dog searches in North Idaho schools served by sheriff’s office resource officers, but the proposal is drawing mixed reactions from fellow commissioners, school administrators, and even the county sheriff himself. Commissioner Bruce Mattare presented the idea during a Tuesday morning board meeting in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, sparking a debate over school safety, law enforcement discretion, and the boundaries of local government authority.
The Proposal: Up to Nine Random Searches Per School Year
Mattare’s proposal would allow the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office to conduct up to nine random drug searches per school year at schools that contract with the county for School Resource Officer (SRO) services. Under the plan, SROs would have discretion to bring a drug-sniffing dog onto school property — including parking lots, hallways, and classrooms — without prior coordination with school administrators.
“What we really want to do is ultimately discourage those who are involved with drugs to bring them to school to try to distribute them to kids who are not involved with drugs,” Mattare told the board.
School districts across Kootenai County contract with various law enforcement agencies — including the cities of Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, and Rathdrum, as well as the sheriff’s office — to provide SRO services. Currently, districts work with those agencies to arrange and conduct drug searches several times per year on a coordinated basis.
Commissioner Marc Eberlein expressed support for the idea. “I think that’s a good idea,” he said during the meeting.
Drug Offense Data Presented to Commissioners
Juvenile probation director Bryan Alexander presented commissioners with data on drug-related charges involving students in the Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, and Lakeland school districts during the 2024-25 school year. According to that data, 41 high school students and 17 middle school students faced charges — mostly for alleged possession of a controlled substance or drug paraphernalia. An additional 14 charges were for frequenting, which can apply when a student is present and aware that a classmate is in possession of illegal drugs on campus.
Of those offenses, 27 were alleged to have occurred in the Coeur d’Alene School District and 26 in the Post Falls School District. Just five alleged offenses occurred in the Lakeland Joint School District, which is served by the sheriff’s office for SRO coverage at Timberlake High School. Alexander noted that Lakeland’s numbers were the lowest of the three districts.
School Officials and Sheriff Express Reservations
Despite the data, officials from the Lakeland Joint School District pushed back firmly against the proposal. Interim Superintendent Jake Massey said the district does not have a drug problem that would justify random searches at law enforcement’s sole discretion.
“We do not have a drug problem in Lakeland schools,” Massey told the Coeur d’Alene Press. “We do not believe in blanket discretion for drug searches in the building. That’s something our board hasn’t stood for.”
Massey also noted that Mattare did not reach out to Lakeland before publicly floating the proposal. “We’re catching up at this point, because there wasn’t any explanation or collaboration on this,” he said.
Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris also expressed reservations. Norris said he has never seen a local governing body impose such a requirement on a school district and believes it is best for school administrators and law enforcement to work directly with each other to plan searches.
“I’m a little concerned we want to put a number or a quota on X amount of searches,” Norris said. “I’m not so sure that a city council or a BOCC should be involved in what the principal and the law enforcement entity think is best for that school.”
Commissioner Leslie Duncan sided with the skeptics. “I don’t believe we should be forcing school districts with this mandate,” she said. “The school board is directly responsible to the parents. We are not. I’d rather the school boards make these decisions.”
The Coeur d’Alene School District, where sheriff’s office SROs serve Atlas, Dalton, and Hayden Meadows Elementary Schools, said it had not been formally informed of the plans. “We are open to ideas that will help us maintain a drug-free and safe learning environment for our students and staff,” said Stefany Bales, the district’s director of community relations. “We have not been made aware of any plans.”
What Comes Next for the Proposal
The proposal has not been formally adopted and commissioners appear split on the question. Mattare and Eberlein appear supportive while Duncan has voiced clear opposition. Sheriff Norris’s concerns about institutional overreach add another layer of uncertainty to whether the idea will move forward into future SRO contract language.
Residents and parents with opinions on school safety and drug enforcement in Kootenai County can contact the Board of County Commissioners directly or attend future public meetings. For broader coverage of public safety and policy developments across Idaho, readers can follow Idaho News and the Idaho News Network. Local public safety leadership has also seen recent changes, with Jon Fugitt recently accepting the position of Coeur d’Alene Fire Chief following Chief Thomas Greif’s retirement announcement.