The Moscow City Council is considering the approval of the Safe Community Offender Accountability Program.
This program would be an alliance between District 2 of Idaho’s Department of Correction Probation and Parole office along with the Moscow Police Department, Lieutenant Paul Kwiatkowski said.
He said the program would have a police officer ride along with a parole officer while completing checks on parolees.
“This is a brand new program,” Kwiatkowski said.
The reason the Department of Corrections wants to have this program passed is because it would make the public safer while also promoting better outcomes with offenders in the county, said Moscow Chief of Police David Duke.
He said the Lewiston Police Department is currently partnered up with District 2 for SCOAP.
Kwiatkowski said the program would benefit the community by having police officers be aware of the people who are on probation and what the terms of their probation are.
“It will have police know the clients,” he said. “Where they need to be during curfew hours, if they are allowed to have alcohol in their homes, and also check for drugs.”
He said it will also allow police to identify the offenders and keep a tighter control over what they are doing throughout the city.
This will help to protect the City of Moscow from improper or illegal actions by the different parolees, he said.
In order for this program to begin, Duke has to sign a memorandum that defines the responsibilities and expectations of the program.
The Administrative Committee of Moscow reviewed the memorandum and recommended it for approval from the City Council on March 25.
Allison Griffith can be reached at [email protected]