Kootenai Elementary briefly locked down Friday

KOOTENAI — Kootenai Elementary went into lockdown briefly Friday after a suspicious male was reported in the area and may have followed a student home the day before.

There were also social media reports that the individual had been reported to have been looking into the windows of Kootenai Elementary, trying to pull a sign off their property and peaking into the windows.

Sandpoint Police, which has a school resource officer at the school and also conducts law enforcement for the city of Kootenai, posted an alert to their Facebook page at 12:55 p.m. to alert the community of the sighting. According to social media posts, parents were called by the school at about the same time.

By early Friday evening, the post had been viewed by thousands of people and been shared hundreds of times.

The man is reported to be in his 30s with red facial hair and was reported to be wearing a brown jacket and jeans.

In addition to their efforts to locate the man, Sandpoint Police Chief Corey Coon reported in the post that the department was conducting extra patrols at the school and in the surrounding community.

The lockdown is among the first major incidents handled by Sandpoint Police in the city of Kootenai since the joint powers agreement between the two municipalities went into effect a month ago.

The contract between the two cities allowed Sandpoint Police to add a second school resource officer, expanding the program into area middle and elementary schools, including Kootenai Elementary. The added SRO presence in Kootenai then presented an opportunity for the two cities to enter into a joint powers agreement — which went into effect on Wednesday, Jan. 8 — for Sandpoint to provide municipal law enforcement services within the city of Kootenai.

The result of the agreements is a school-community connection, and a connection across communities that is a benefit to everyone, Sandpoint and Kootenai officials said at the time. The police service model for the city of Kootenai includes a 24/7 response to citizen-driven dispatched calls, a regular SRO presence before, during and after school hours at Kootenai Elementary, and proactive police patrols focused on traffic concerns.

Sandpoint Police asked that if anyone sees someone matching the description in the Kootenai area, please call Bonner Dispatch at 208-265-5525.

Caroline Lobsinger can be reached by email at clobsinger@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @CarolDailyBee.