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Skateboarders, Police at Odds Over Helmet Crackdown

By Beacon Staff

Hanging on a rack at the Spirit Skate Shop in Kalispell are a bunch of T-shirts for sale that read: “The KPD can take my skateboard, but they can’t take my spirit.”

“KPD” refers to the Kalispell Police Department, and the T-shirts, according to Spirit Skate Shop’s owner, Mark DeLorme, are a response to the recent crackdown by authorities against skateboarders at the Woodland Skate Park. In June alone, DeLorme estimates the police have confiscated roughly 30 skateboards from skaters failing to wear helmets in the park, or violating city ordinance in some other way.

“It’s just creating this kind of rebellious behavior by the skateboarding community,” DeLorme said. “The one place you’re supposed to be able to go and not get harassed by police in this city is the focus of the cops.”

Kalispell Police Chief Roger Nasset couldn’t say exactly how many skateboards police have confiscated over the last month, but agreed that it has been between 20 and 30 boards. He disputes DeLorme’s assertion, however, that the police are cracking down on skateboarders, and instead attributed the increased police presence in Woodland to the fact that it’s peak season in the park, and more patrols are necessary.

“It’s an increase because the weather’s nicer – there are more people enjoying the park,” Nasset said. “This is skate season and park season and swimming pool season; all of these things together have created more of a police presence.”

The recent incidents at the Woodland Skate Park are nothing new, and a contentious relationship between the skateboarding community and police is common in almost every city in America. But DeLorme and other skaters maintain the recent crackdown by authorities at the skate park is out of proportion to the nature of the violations, and the fines officers issue the skaters are expensive. The city, on the other hand, says if skaters simply adhere to the regulations, there won’t be any issues at all.

“We’re trying to send a message to the skateboarders that if you just mind the rules, everything will be fine down there,” Nasset said.

The root of the current problem can be traced to a May 18 city council meeting, where a motion to relax the helmet requirement at Woodland Park died on a 4-4 vote. The recommendation had strong support from skateboarders, and the motion was among three devised by the Skateboard Park Advisory Committee, a group that included police officers, city officials and skateboarders. At a packed meeting, the council’s decision drew deep disappointment from the skating community.

“Everything was just kind of squashed right in front of us,” DeLorme, who served on the committee, said. “Not one of the things we worked on passed.”

Those who supported making the wearing of a helmet a recommendation instead of a requirement argued that most other skate parks throughout country lack the helmet requirement. Furthermore, the law was not being effectively enforced anyway; doing away with it would relieve the city of liabilities for any injuries and free up the police to focus their efforts elsewhere. But when the council voted to keep the requirement in place, the opposite effect occurred at the skate park.

“As soon as that happened, the police started going crazy down there,” DeLorme said.

According to DeLorme and other skaters interviewed, recent raids on the skate park have included multiple officers observing the skaters from the hill above with binoculars, and several officers on bicycles raiding the park at once shortly after the surveillance.

Nasset confirmed the police have recently conducted some special patrols of that nature at Woodland Park, but they were due to reports of drug activity. Then, once officers are one the scene, they can’t ignore any other violations they witness, like a lack of helmets, so further citations and board confiscations occur, he added.

Police officers typically do not confiscate boards on a first offense, but on a second offense they do, with a fine that can be as high as $100. The skaters must retrieve their boards after appearing in city court. Nasset said the penalties have improved enforcement of the rules at the park.

“We really had no teeth in what we were trying to accomplish to get the kids to follow the rules,” Nasset said. “Every case that I’m aware of, they’ve gotten their skateboards back.”

Complaints from parents dropping kids off at the city pool who say the skaters are refusing to yield the parking lot next to the skate park have only added to the problems. But while the relationship between police and the skaters remains tense, Nasset said he truly believes the problems at the skate park are limited to a very small number of skaters there.

“Many times officers have stopped and thanked kids for following the rules,” Nasset added. And skaters at the park say many patrols go smoothly, with officers complimenting the skaters on their skills.

Mayor Pam Kennedy, who visited the skate park to pick up litter last week, said she hopes to reconvene the skate park committee. But in the short term, any rule changes at the Woodland Skate Park are unlikely to occur.

“It’s just such an easy thing to figure out,” DeLorme said. “But the city can’t figure out how to make it work.”