BFPD hires two new officers, getting dash and body cams

BONNERS FERRY — The Bonners Ferry Police Department has hired two new officers since the city council removed the hiring freeze in October. 

Due to the last year's general fund shortfall, the BFPD had a hiring freeze and was operating with six officers. Assistant Chief Marty Ryan is retiring Dec. 1, 2023. The two new officers will bring the department up to its full complement of seven officers.

BFPD Chief Brian Zimmerman announced he also plans to retire sometime in the next year, but wants to return to full staff and have another officer ready before he signs off for the last time.

Before Ryan and he can retire, new staff needs to come on, or else the department will be down officers, Zimmerman said.

Officer Scott McBride, with over 20 years of law enforcement experience in Oregon, was recently hired by the city, but due to upcoming retirements, another position opened up. 

Zimmerman told the city council in a September meeting that a new officer would need to be hired right away in order to earn a spot in the Police Officer Standards Training, or police academy, which starts in January 2023. BFPD would need to have an officer hired on and reserve a spot in the course to have an officer trained. 

The council approved the hiring of another officer and so, Canon Schmacher was brought on board. 

Schumacher, originally from Vancouver, Wash., lives in Boundary County and is new to law enforcement. 

“I always wanted to be in law enforcement,” he said, noting he was in a criminal justice program in high school as part of the Running Start program. 

He said he’s always had a massive respect for the men and women in blue. Schumacher moved to Boundary County to be with family about two years ago. Since moving here he has developed a love for the community by going to the gym and church. 

He has been with BFPD for about a month. A large portion of his time has been spent learning every street in the city and learning the daily duties of an officer. At this time he is in field training with the department’s field training officer when he is on shift.

Officer Brandon Johnson told the Herald the BFPD as an agency is aiming to have officers who want to stick around for their whole career, from start to finish. 

In the past several years the department’s leadership has been working to improve the department and retain staff to serve the community the way it should be, Johnson said. 

Schumacher will attend POST from January to April 2024. He is expected to be solo in the field and on the regular schedule in June 2024. 

“It is great to have Schumahcer on board,” Johnson said. “I appreciate everyone in our department, but having someone younger join the profession and be a cop in our community for the long term is what we are trying to do as an agency.” 

Historically at BFPD, officers have joined at the end of their career, rather than starting. 

Being a small-town cop is very different from being a cop in the city, Johnson said, as officers stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the grocery store with the people they serve and those they have pulled over for a traffic citation. 

They know people in the community and engage with people both when they are on shift and when they are off, which is a different dynamic. 

“It is hard, but part of what we love about being a cop in Bonners Ferry,” he said. 

In other BFPD news, Oct. 17, the council approved American Rescue Plan Act funds originally earmarked for police repeaters be reallocated for body and dash cams for the police department. 

Zimmerman said the department had purchased one repeater to test out and found that it did not meet expectations. 

Upon research by school resource officer Jeremey Garrett, the department found dash cam and body cam providers that were cheaper, had ample storage abilities and better quality than the competitors. 

The BFPD does already own body cameras, but they are from a different vendor. The department is using the same vendor for both cameras. 

BFPD Sgt. Willie Cowell told the Herald that the police department had dash cams when he joined the department in 2007, but as systems were transferred from film to digital systems, the department couldn’t afford the financial investment. In addition, the former film dash cam company no longer serviced the DVD versions and so the department went without dash cams. 

“Dash cams and body cams are useful when a situation gets sticky or a complaint is filed,” Cowell said, adding a video review of events has evidentiary value for criminal cases.

He added that when it comes to evaluations, such as sobriety tests, the officer can pull the camera off his chest and record alleged drunken driving stops to show whether the person passed or failed the test.