Post Falls Police Chief Mark Brantl has worn many hats in his law enforcement career.  

He started out in his hometown in Great Falls, Mont., as an animal control officer in 1995. While attending North Idaho College, he served as a marine deputy with the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office.

“I was able to do a lot of different things and learn a lot of different facets of law enforcement,” Brantl said.  

After joining the Post Falls Police Department in 1998 as a patrol officer, he worked as a motor brigade officer, traffic unit officer, drug task force detective, K9 sergeant, field training officer, SWAT team leader and firearms instructor. 

“When I was a sergeant of K9, I did a lot of training with them,” Brantl said. “I always wanted to be a K9 handler, but I was mainly a chew toy.”  

Brantl was sworn in as police chief at the Post Falls City Council meeting May 19. If you had told him when he first became a police officer that we would become chief, it would have come as a surprise to his younger self. 

“It was never something I wanted,” Brantl said. “It was a tumultuous period we’ve had, but when it came time to either step up or let somebody else step up. It was the right time.” 

Brantl’s goal is to make sure his staff has the resources to keep up with Post Falls as it grows and evolves. 

“My focus is on the employees we have here to make sure they can continue to do the great work they do every day," Brantl said. 

Making sure that services keep in lockstep with a tight budget is also a challenge facing the department this year, which Brantl hopes to tackle by looking at efficiency strategies.    

“The side of our cars say partners with the community and we take that very seriously,” Brantl said. “It’s about being partners with businesses and citizens, with the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office and Coeur d’Alene police.”   

His managerial style is to “let officers be officers” and not micromanage employees.

“If you do a crime in the state of Idaho, you go to jail,” Brantl said. “I always took pride that my kid wants to ride his bike to Walmart. You can go for a walk at three in the morning and no one’s going to bother you.”  

Now managing the police department, he intends to bring back open houses and do more outreach events.    

“At Holidays and Heroes, I’m usually the Grinch, but I’m going to have to pass on my Grinch duties to somebody else,” Brantl said. 

Hearing what citizens and business owners have to say is a major part of his new role as chief.  

“Most of the time when you’re interacting with police it is not on your best day and so having those interactions at coffee with a cop is key,” Brantl said.   

He said there is a common theme in conversations with residents. 

“Post Falls has grown so much and continues to grow and that concerns the citizens, that’s usually what I hear the most about. It’s a challenge right now,” Brantl said. “We’re a growing community, so with the expansion and growth, one of the complaints we get a lot is traffic.” 

Cracking down on drugs continues to be a reoccurring issue. 

“We’re aggressively trying to stop the flow of drugs into the community, but it's a never-ending battle that we are passionate about. Fortunately, the laws in Idaho do keep a lot of major drug dealers out of the state because they don’t want to go to prison,” Brantl said.