The Star - News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

Since 9-11 I have watched the evolution of Bureau security in and around the Dam. For a long time, it appeared that the after a shaky start, the program would mature with age.

I now think I was wrong.

In the beginning, the powers that be did everything they could to have a security “presence.” That presence was to make sure us local terrorists didn’t fish in peace, walk on the Bureau’s hallowed ground in the early morning or evening or stop our cars and take pictures. Moreover, the Bureau gave the security staff guns and formed swat teams. Of course, they had a few problems with firearms training as one of their number discharged a firearm in a classroom. Word was it was an instructor, but that was never confirmed. Also, they regularly practiced shooting at their range more often than you would believe. Not a few shots apiece, but hundreds per trainee per session with many, many sessions. I know because I fished in the area. With all the training and law enforcement training they have, they weren’t given any powers to do much more than drive around and call law enforcement if they saw something amiss.

Consequently, they are bored and must get their kicks finding something to fill their day. The use of their skills and training hit its nadir with reporting someone to “real” policemen for the taking of a rock from the Bureau’s ground. Worse yet, last week’s Star reported that these protectors of the Dam needed to call police for the smallest of items, like getting trucks across the road, confronting two children chasing their dog, telling two skateboarders they were creating a traffic hazard, and informing someone to be more careful crossing the street.

What’s wrong with these images? How would you like to be confronted by their swat team, even if there was no reason for them to confront you?

Worse yet, who pays for all of this?

Michael Palanuk