COEUR d'ALENE - Power of the patrol.

The Coeur d'Alene Police Department is requesting its volunteer program Citizens on Patrol, or COPS, be given the authority to issue parking tickets.

The help wouldn't displace the city's downtown parking control, Diamond Parking, but would allow real officers to focus on more serious offenses while the department keeps up with ticketing illegal parkers.

"I'm not saying that parking is not a serious issue, but when we're looking for other calls for service, it doesn't rise to a higher level of concern when we have a high volume," said Police Chief Wayne Longo.

Since 2005, the department has seen increases in calls for service, and a decrease by nearly half in parking citations, issuing 1,674 tickets in 2005 and 856 in 2009.

The change would give the six-member patrol authority to issue tickets, and possibly recoup revenues for the city.

Sixty citations issued per month at $15 per ticket would equal $900 in revenue, according to staff reports.

Longo told the city's General Services Committee on Monday that the police department fields a number of parking complaints in neighborhoods such as Rosenberry Drive and the Fort Grounds area and that quicker police response time would be appreciated there.

The committee recommended adopting the rule, and forwarded it to the City Council for its Tuesday, March 16, meeting at 6 p.m. in the public library.

It also recommended that ROW Adventures be allowed to launch guided kayak tours for as many as 21 people from Independence Point for the summer season.