RATHDRUM, Idaho – The youngest candidate seeking office in the 2024 General Election in Kootenai County is Kyle Woodward, a 23-year-old from Rathdrum who moved to the area as a young child in 2004 and graduated Lakeland High School in 2020. He is one of three Independent candidates challenging the Republican incumbent for sheriff.
“I have a background in video production, I used to shoot documentaries,” shared Woodward. “I work in retail now and am currently going to college for information technology.”
Anyone who takes time to have a genuine conversation with Woodward will find him to be a thoughtful and articulate young man, who isn’t afraid of 12-hour workdays or discussions on ‘touchy’ topics. “One of my best qualities is my work ethic,” he shared.
When asked whether he had ever run for elected office before and why he chose the sheriff’s position, he said, “I have never run before. I never saw myself as being a politician in general. But there were changes happening that I didn’t like…and I didn’t see someone running who had 100% of what I was looking for.”
I want someone who will put the community first and holds the same principles I do.
Kyle Woodward
“I want the best for my community,” he stated. “What I was taught growing up is that if you want change, you have to be that change. You have to lead by example. I want to protect my community and my rights, and that’s a big part of this.”
Woodward’s platform includes “shielding individuals from local, state, and federal oppression.” When asked if he saw any oppression from Covid-19 mitigation protocols, he replied, “Not here, not in Kootenai County.” He admits that the Covid era was a blur for him as it was his senior year in high school, which was completed online when “no one knew what they were doing.”
I believe in dangerous freedom.
Kyle Woodward
“I went to NIC immediately after, and that was a horrible mistake,” he shared. “They tried transitioning to online school and it did not go well. They lost a lot of students, including me, because the class schedule was impossible.” Rick MacLennon was heading the college’s administration at this time and wasn’t removed from his position until September 2021, a year after Woodward’s first college experience. “It was not enjoyable.”
“I personally didn’t run into mask mandates from the government,” he stated. But he did learn how to de-escalate situations because of masking requirements at his retail job. “My introduction to adulthood was Covid…People would come up and yell at us [employees] for wearing a mask. It was aggressive…It’s a unique experience to work in customer service and you have to learn de-escalation tactics and you have to learn how to deal with difficult people in a way that’s beneficial to both parties.” Woodward believes these skills are lacking today, where people just meet aggression with aggression. He would like to see more emphasis on de-escalation by the sheriff’s office.
Kootenai Journal asked Woodward what policy initiatives he believes should be implemented in the sheriff’s office to shield individuals from oppression. “It’s a little bit hard to get an idea of what’s already implemented. It’s hard to get information from that office right now. My main focus is going to be protecting the constitutional rights of people, and holding people who disregard our rights to the law.”
Being complacent in knowledge is the biggest threat.
Kyle Woodward
He also wants to see equitable standards applied to all sheriff’s personnel. When asked to define this and whether it differs from equal protection, Woodward stated, “I think the people in power should be held to a higher standard.” He clarified that this applies to everyone from clerks, to patrol, to jail deputies. “I don’t believe in qualified immunity,” he said. “It allows government officials to violate the Constitution without being held accountable.”
“The wording in the Constitution, ‘unalienable rights,’ these are things you are born with as a human being in the United States,” he explained. “They are outlined to be protected from the government in the Constitution…The Bill of Rights is just protection for our rights. If something can be given to you and something can be taken away from you, it’s not a right.”
Woodward doesn’t view his policy position against qualified immunity as a hindrance to attracting or retaining officers. “I would rather have ten good officers than 50 bad ones,” he stated. “It’s really hard to gain trust…but really easy to lose it. One action by an officer and you’ve lost the trust of the people. That’s just the way it is. Once you put on a badge you are now the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office and you need to meet the highest standard.”
When it comes to allocating resources, Woodward said he would like the sheriff’s office to focus on the detective aspect and solving more crimes over traffic enforcement and misdemeanor ticketing.
Additionally, he believes we have a problem with unreported crimes. “Child abuse and spousal abuse…it’s a big problem and it’s gotten worse in the last few years.” He said the crimes go unreported for different reasons, including fear of retaliation from abusers and belief that the authorities don’t really want to help victims. His platform includes getting to the root cause of this distrust towards law enforcement so victims will come forward. “Crime is only going to get worse with single parent households.”
Woodward is an avid shooter, enjoys outdoor ‘course of fire’ training, and has participated in USPSA competitions. “A lot of candidates say they are pro-Second Amendment, but I am the only one who has bought ‘banned’ ammo,” he shared.
“The number one reason people should vote for me is my love for the community and my absolute loyalty to the community,” stated Woodward. “I am completely self-funded for a reason…You can elect someone else who has been a police officer. You can elect someone else who has more experience than me. But you will not find someone who cares about the community more. This is my home. I want nothing but the best for it.”
Woodward fully acknowledges the biggest hurdle to overcome is his lack of law enforcement experience. “It’s a negative for some people, but some people see it as a positive.” He explained that he plans to get POST certified if elected, “That’s a very important part to understanding the officers.”
He also wants citizens to be informed voters. “I would love to see a [high school] class that goes really in depth about politics and gets people involved enough to pay attention, because we need informed voters in our society. We need people who feel like they can run for these offices. It shouldn’t be a high bar that someone has to reach for. The fact is, most elected positions, barring a couple, are meant to be our representation in the government. We cannot lose sight of that.”
Voting in the Idaho 2024 General Election has already begun via absentee ballot. Voters can request an absentee ballot through October 25 at idahovotes.gov. Early in-person voting begins Tuesday, October 15 at the county elections department located at 1808 North Third Street in Coeur d’Alene. Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on election day Tuesday, November 5. Voters can find their polling location and sample ballot here.
