COEUR d’ALENE — The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office helicopter has not been used for law enforcement purposes for almost a year, officials confirmed Thursday, though the county and sheriff’s office are working to resolve liability issues that have kept it grounded.

Kootenai County commissioners met with sheriff’s office personnel to discuss a new lease agreement for the use of ABLE1, a 1994 BELL 206 helicopter purchased using donated funds. 

County commissioners voted unanimously in March 2023 to approve an agreement between the sheriff’s office and the Kootenai County Regional Air Support Unit, a nonprofit formed in 2022 for that purpose. The two-year, donation-funded pilot program for the helicopter unit was the first of its kind in Idaho. 

ABLE1 was last used for law enforcement activities — traffic stops, specifically — Sept. 12, 2024, according to a public log of incident reports maintained by Kootenai County Regional Air Support. 

“They found some discrepancies in the insurance policy for the county,” Lt. Mark Ellis said. 

Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris touched on the issue during a July news conference about the June 29 shooting and fire on Canfield Mountain. During the incident, a Spokane County helicopter provided support. 

“(ABLE1) was down for maintenance at this particular time,” Norris said during the news conference. “However, there was an area of the workman’s comp insurance that was identified that we could do better in, that we were deficient in.” 

Between August 2023 and September 2024, the helicopter unit assisted various agencies during 140 incidents or calls, according to the incident log, including 14 search and rescue operations. But the helicopter hasn’t been used for those purposes for the past 11 months. 

“It’s been utilized for nonprofit training and maintenance and that kind of thing, but it has not been utilized for law enforcement functions or search and rescue functions,” Ellis said. 

Under the proposed agreement, the helicopter would be used for law enforcement, search and rescue, tactical training and maintenance flights. The nonprofit will pay all operational costs and is responsible for supplying qualified pilots, while Kootenai County will continue to contribute $10,000 annually, the same amount of money the county previously allocated each year to Spokane County to use its helicopter. 

Kootenai County Regional Air Support Unit will remain an independent contractor under the proposed agreement and maintain $2 million liability insurance naming the county as additionally insured. 

Commissioner Leslie Duncan indicated that the proposed agreement will be reviewed by the Idaho Counties Risk Management Program, the county’s insurance provider, and the Federal Aviation Administration before it goes before commissioners again during a future business meeting.