COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office has received a significant upgrade to its marine unit, thanks to a $40,000 donation from the Mahogany Boaters Education Association. This donation, along with $22,000 from boater registration funds and another $22,000 from taxpayers, has enabled the office to replace its aging sonar system.
The new sonar system is a game changer for the marine unit, providing faster findings and quicker closure for families after years of using a failing system.
“It’s an invaluable resource to the community and to the region ultimately,” Sergeant Ryan Odegaard said.
The updated system is smaller than the previous one, capturing sound and density with clearer quality. Sergeant Ryan Odegaard emphasized the improvements.
“As far as upgrade and technology – it’s going to be the resolution and image quality as well as the mobility of it,” he said.
The total cost of the new system was $84,000, according to Sergeant Ryan Miller.
“Absolutely crucial. We can’t search for people underneath the water at a certain depth without this system,” Odegaard stated.
The sonar system’s cable allows it to operate at depths of hundreds of feet. Once it identifies a target, deputies deploy a robot to retrieve it. Sergeant Miller detailed the process.
“The robot can go down, it can recover the item we’re looking at, it brings it up to a suitable depth for divers to go down to, which is usually about a 40-foot range,” he said.
The technology has proven vital for recovery operations. Sergeant Miller recounted an incident from July 5, 2020, when two planes crashed.
“Our sonar team was able to get out in that area, locate the wreckage within four hours and then our dive teams had the victims recovered within four days,” he said.
The system has already been put to use, as the team recently deployed to Lake County, Montana, to assist with a search on Flathead Lake for a victim missing since July.
“The team just deployed over to Lake County, Montana to help them on Flathead Lake with a search for a victim that’s been missing since July,” Sergeant Odegaard said.
The sheriff’s office system detected subjects beneath the water, and they are now waiting for a robot to confirm if it is the missing victim.
“It means everything. It means more efficient searches, hopefully more efficient locates, hopefully more closure for families,” Sergeant Odegaard stated.
As summer winds down, the marine unit is already preparing for a busy season next year, even as fewer boaters are using ramps across Kootenai County.
