OpenCDA

April 25, 2016

Nice Sentiment, Bad Idea

Filed under: Probable Cause — Tags: — Bill @ 1:35 pm

cpd-station-signAccording to the Coeur d’Alene General Services Commission’s agenda and packet for its regularly scheduled meeting on April 25, 2016, Coeur d’Alene Parks & Recreation Director Bill Greenwood will report that the City’s Parks and Recreation Commission will recommend that General Services approve the concept and location of the McEuen Water Feature.

It is only when readers look at the drawing accompanying Greenwood’s staff report do we learn the proposed name of the water feature:

ParkProposedSitePlanSergeant Greg Moore was a Coeur d’Alene police sergeant who was shot and killed on duty in May 2015.

While OpenCdA thinks this is a nice sentiment, we also think it is a very bad idea.

If the City of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, truly and honestly wants to honor SGT Moore’s name, career, and death on duty as a Coeur d’Alene Police Sergeant, the City would move the cost of this water feature into the police department and create an endowment fund to be used exclusively for continued professional training for all Coeur d’Alene Police Department employees.

SGT Moore’s legacy should be much more than a meaningless and tasteless artificial waterfall in a park by the lake.

OpenCdA can’t think of a better way to honor SGT Moore’s memory than to do something significant in his name to improve the professionalism of the Coeur d’Alene Police Department. That would have a longer-lasting effect for the benefit of the community than yet another plaque in McEuen Park and the Library.

Sergeant Moore has already been rightfully and properly recognized along with others in the Coeur d’Alene Firefighters and Law Enforcement Fallen Heroes Plaza,  the Idaho Peace Officer Memorial in Meridian, and the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC.

If this waterfall concept is approved at the April 25 General Service Commitee meeting, it could go before the City Council for approval or rejection at its May 3, 2016, meeting.

OpenCdA urges the Coeur d’Alene City Council to reject this proposal and instead use the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars it would cost to create a training fund in the Coeur d’Alene Police Department.

2 Comments

  1. I agree with you Bill. The water feature should be at the Police Department.

    Comment by LTR — April 26, 2016 @ 5:23 pm

  2. LTR,

    Thank you.

    My opinion is that the money that will be spent on this water feature should instead be put in a fund restricted for the professional training of Coeur d’Alene police employees — all of them, not just sworn officers. There can be fewer genuine honors to a police officer than to have his memory and name attached to something that improves the safety and quality of professional services delivered by his fellow employees. I’m pretty sure I know what SGT Moore’s response would be if asked, “Which would you prefer? A statue to collect pigeon poop in the park or training which might make it possible for your fellow employees to perform more professionally and safely in service to their community?”

    Unfortunately, Mayor Widmyer has evidently made up his mind his (the Mayor’s) personal choice would be a tasteless artificial waterfall and stream in a park by the lake.

    But watch the video of the General Services Committee on April 25, 2016, and make up your own mind.

    Comment by Bill — April 26, 2016 @ 8:33 pm

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