By Mike Weland
On the afternoon of November 29, Mitchell Walters was driving a 2007 black Jeep Wrangler west on Highway 2, anticipating Christmas. It was Black Friday and he had a list of presents to buy. He turned south at Three Mile toward Bonners Ferry and the stores he planned to visit. He wasn’t distracted, but he was in a happy place, thinking of the joy he’d be bringing home to Troy to wrap and stow away that evening, to be redeemed for laughter and squeals and the biggest bear hugs ever just under a month away on Christmas.
Driving down a winding six-percent grade at the 55 miles per hour speed limit, an easy, gentle descent, he saw the sign alerting him that the speed limit dropped to 45 miles-an-hour ahead, and there it was at a bend just down the highway.
Beyond it the highway continues in a downhill rolling curve to the right, rounding a hill that opens vision in increments — the view far more engaging looking to your left down the Kootenai River than the drab hillside you’re turning into until at the bottom you leave the curve and stretched out before is beautiful downtown Bonners Ferry. Just before the view opens up you pass a big “Welcome to Bonners Ferry” and as you pass it, with no yellow “Speed Limit Ahead 35” sign to give notice, you catch sight of a sign just ahead to your right, white with black lettering.
If you don’t know it’s there and you’re in a cluster of vehicles, it falls out of sight behind you almost before you recognize what it was, a speed limit sign stepping the speed limit down to 35 miles an hour. Unlike the 45 reduction that preceded it, there was no yellow sign alerting that a white speed limit sign stood ahead.
On a level grade, if you’re going the speed limit and take your foot off the accelerator at the “speed limit ahead” sign, your car will slow to the new speed limit by the time you reach the speed limit. On a six-percent downhill grade, letting off the gas isn’t enough, a car will speed up unless the brakes are applied.
When the flashing lights came on, Walters was traveling at 50 miles per hour, according to Idaho Uniform Citation #BFP64000001145, issued at 2:15 p.m. on Highway 95 at Comanche, charging him with an infraction speeding violation.
Walters does not dispute that he was speeding. He isn’t paying the $90 fine though. Not quite yet anyway. Instead, he will challenge the ticket in court, contending that two-mile stretch of highway from Comanche Street north is a speed trap, hurting not only motorists caught in it, but local businesses as well.
“How many Christmas budgets for Black Friday spending were severely damaged because of a traffic citation?” he asked in an addendum filed with the case. “What was the financial loss to local retailers and businesses as a result of the many citations issued that Black Friday? Why would any public policy rely upon a speed trap for revenue generation?”
Walters has better credentials than most to make that claim. A police officer from 1984 until retiring in 2009, he is POST certified in Idaho, Washington and Montana, with intermediate, advanced, supervisory, command and administrative certificates. He’s a graduate of the FBI Command College. Born and raised in Rexburg, he earned associate’s degrees in law enforcement and arts and science from Ricks College in Rexburg in 1984 and a Bachelor of Science in biology at Idaho State University in 1987, with coursework for his masters in sociology and criminology.
He launched his 40-plus year law enforcement career in 1984 as a loss prevention and risk management manager for Sears in Pocatello and Twin Falls until 1991, and as a student police officer at ISU, where as a sergeant he supervised 20 subordinate officers. The last 14 years of his law enforcement career he was chief of police in Troy, retiring in 2009.
He is still active as an electronic and physical security professional at Lookout Security and Investigation Inc., installing and maintaining security systems, doing private investigative work, serving legal papers across several counties.
Calling the way his ticket was issued bad public policy, it’s the principal of it, he said, that’s making him challenge the ticket rather than simply pay the fine and be done with it.
“It’s so blatant it looks like it was designed to target Canadians and Montanans,” he said. “Coming into town from the south you’ve got a straight road, flat grade, and five signs on the speed limit. There’s often a portable radar speed detector set up to tell you how fast you’re going.”
If you get a ticket there, you deserve it.
Coming in from the north you have a two-mile stretch on a six-percent downhill grade going in a right-hand curve. It should have as many or more speed limit signs as the highway coming in from the south.
It has three, with no warning that another speed reduction lies ahead as you round that last curve into town. But what Walters found egregious was that the officer who ticketed him was lying in wait, hidden.
“Traffic enforcement isn’t a cat and mouse game,” Walters said, “it’s about deterrence, not gotcha. That patrol car should have been in plain view to draw attention to the 35-mile-an hour speed limit sign ahead, not behind it, hidden. Safety is the whole point. How many times have you heard about the officer, or EMS causing the accident because people freak and everybody goes goofy?! Cat and mouse traffic enforcement will cost you respect.”
A court trial is set before Judge Justin Julian at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, February 13, upstairs at the Boundary County Courthouse, 6452 Kootenai Street, Bonners Ferry.
“Government should always remember whom they serve, and not create an ‘us against them’ mentality,” Walters said.
Weak excuse. A real cop would pay the ticket. We don’t need a lecture.
Photo shop pic , there’s been a 35 mph sign in that view for years
Except for cropping, size, resolution and contrast, the image was not digitally altered. ~ Mike Weland
He is going to pay. He is a real police officer with more experience then all of our police combined (maybe excluding Zimmerman.) Profiling is huge here. I hear them Profiling on their body cam even 7B tags!
The new light at 3 Mile is causing clusters and aggression. There should be no 55 in the area. Period. Massive increases in out-area-drivers who assume “it’s the same here” is causing further aggression. The new highway “safety improvement” is beyond confusing, and it is causing left-lane-lingering (especially heavy Canadian semis) which results in dangerous rolling roadblocks. Oh yeah, the Welcome to BF and city limits signs are the warnings for reduced speed. 95 is 35mph (25 in active school zones) within the entire city limits.
I find it a little bizarre that he was looking forward to Christmas Shopping in Bonners ferry. I’d love to know where we could do that kind of shopping here.
But by the by. I feel he has a point. It’s a very easy entrapment zone. There are not true warnings as there should be. Many residents here say just the same. We now nick name it the new Bonners Ferry road tax.
You are correct. Start watching all the 11 mile and under tickets being written. Get really into it and request body cam…if you know civil rights, you would become very angered at what you see.
Funny how so many of us can see the speed limit signs and slow down appropriately for them. Driving requires you to pay attention to the road and be responsible for the signs. If you don’t know the area or travel it enough, you should pay more attention. If this gentleman is a retired officer he knows that many officers “lay in wait” to catch those speeding. I do not feel sorry for him nor do I agree with his excuses.
FINALLY , true justice. I wonder how Many “Like kind” of tickets he wrote in his tenure under the same type of circumstances ?
And the ability to flaunt his “brother hood” of privilege to be above the Law. Too bad he didn’t get a DUI.
Suck it up Buttercup.
I wonder how often this gentleman has driven through Bonners Ferry. Since he was coming to shop at stores here, I presume he is a frequent visitor. None of these signs are new. And admiring the scenery does not excuse you from paying attention to what’s in front of you. That little turnout can’t hide a police vehicle out of sight, and if this gentleman’s eyes had been where they needed to be, he would have seen a vehicle there (not to mention the 35mph sign). No “bad public policy” here; local law enforcement does not decide where and what signs are placed. That final determination is the job of ITD. So, next time through be more alert and slow down. A retired LEO should know better than to try to play the victim. Cut the whine and pay the fine!
Principle should be the principal word you use for your headline.
I knew that, Elaine! Uf da … it’s fixed … thank you!
He is 100% correct on the speed traps. Profiling on license plates and it goes much deeper.
If people reading this do not look at the body cams in this county, they need to start! Ive watched every trick in the book and my family is in law enforcement going on 4 generations. (Not here, one is retired though living here for 30 plus years!) THEY use the excuse it’s a drug trafficking highway to take your civil rights away. Most highways near any boarder is a drug and sex trafficking highway)Deletion of body cams when they have to be in evidence for 90 days. Start watching the tickets being given…you will see a pattern. Get a auto cam in your cars. After a stop and the ticket is given the stop is over. Time your stop. I’ve never had a ticket and I do work with law so I’m not a bitter person writing this. I can’t stand dishonesty.
I was coming down the hill in a new car to BF (bright yellow sports car) when the chief of police was headed up the hill. He flipped around and followed me up the other side and turned on his lights behind me. I was doing 35 in the 35 when he turned around behind me by the Welcome to BF sign. His first words to me where “I do not profile cars” then he stated that he called in my paper plate and it came back as a Cadillac. I call BS!
For 1. I wasnt doing anything wrong so why would you be calling in my paper plate? And he definitely profiled my car!
This was the 2nd time I was pulled over in 2 days with this car. I also was told that the road i live on is used for drug running! Hmmm! Bright yellow sports car with no paper plate because it was just purchased in another state the previous day. And was registed the day after I got it here. I have time to register it, do i not? I had a bill of sale. Kinda hard to register it on a weekend!
What part of the term “speed limit” implies a minimum? In Idaho it is lawful to write a ticket for 1 mph over the posted, or even when driving the limit itself in unsafe conditions. Allowances by officers are appreciated by many, but not required…especially now that everything is getting more dangerous.
This guy has lived in Troy for that many years, and has never drove into Bonners Ferry…..????? He’s retired LEO and is complaining about getting a ticket for driving 15 over….???? If anyone should know about speed traps, it would be the ex Chief of police in Troy. Two of the worst speed traps I’ve ever seen, coming into to town, from both directions. Probably never wrote a ticket in his career……, yeah right. Hey bud, if your that silly, stay home. Thanks for the $90.00 bucks though.
Interesting. But, pay the fine. While I dislike the idea of cops hiding for speed enforcement, you wetr speeding. You state you are post cerified in Idaho as well as your home state and Washington. You also stated you were born in Idaho. Here is the rub. On 95 when it goes through any town of any size, it always drops to at least 35. As far as I know all hiways do. From what I believe it is the same for his resident state of Montana. Until recently, Idaho just used reduced speed ahead and Montana used speed zone ahead. They pretty much covered all the zones ahead. Most drivers know they are just used in transition zones from hiway speeds. Not unusually in town. I also doubt this is the first time he has driven this stretch of road. In that case he either willfully sped or was being inattentive. He most likely did not like the cops attitude or his hiding. Being a ex-cop he should be aware that cops can lie in questioning, and have immunity for most behavior.. These things lead me to believe what the cop did (while I think it is low) is legal. You got busted, man up, I’m sure with your PERSI retirement, the $90 had no effect on your Christmas spending.