Sheriff

Sheriff Bob Norris

About Bob Norris
Experience. Responsibility. Leadership. 

These are the words people use to describe Bob Norris. Coming from a working-class family, Bob has learned that values and service take priority over personal gain and vanity. His background includes:

  • A 30-Year Law Enforcement Career – Bob has worked patrol, custody, narcotics, gangs, investigations, counter terrorism and emergency preparedness. He finished his career as chief of law enforcement services serving a population about the size of Kootenai County.

  • A Proven Law Enforcement Manager – Bob has managed a multi-million-dollar budget and a staff of over 150 public safety professionals.  Bob is also an expert and believer in community-based policing. 
  • A Supporter of Community-Based Policing – Bob has seen first-hand the benefits of crime reduction through proactive community policing. He’s also implemented, supervised and managed programs for at-risk youth, before they become adult criminals.
     
  • A Leader of Elite L/E Teams – Bob was selected to lead an anti-terror Team at the Joint Regional Intelligence Center after 9/11. His assignment was to manage personnel and resources from local, state and federal agencies. His responsibilities also included the planning, logistics and response to man-made and natural disasters.
     
  • A Current Member of The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team – he has a deep understanding of the inner workings of our Sheriff’s Department and the needs of our community.
     
  • Active Supporter of the 2nd Amendment – Bob is an avid supporter of conceal carry, often shoots in his spare time and is a Lifetime Member of the NRA

More About Bob Norris

Bob is a current member of the Kootenai County Search and Rescue Team and a 30-year Sheriff’s Office Veteran. Where to this day, he serves the people in this community. Organization and community first! This makes him a perfect “fit” as our new Sheriff. He already knows the responsibilities and duties of all aspects of the organization so he can quickly and smoothly take over as the Kootenai County Sheriff.

Bob’s assignments included: patrol, custody, narcotics, gangs, investigations, counter terrorism and emergency preparedness. Bob is also an expert and believer in community-based policing.

Bob was also a graduate of the LASO’s prestigious Leadership Certification program. It’s a three-part certification where future law enforcement leaders are hand-picked to attend from his and those surrounding law enforcement jurisdictions.

After 9/11 Bob was selected out of hundreds of sheriff candidates to lead a special team at the newly created Joint Regional Intelligence Center (JRIC) to combat terrorism in the United States. Bob held a Top Secret SCI and was responsible for managing personnel and resources from local, state, and federal agencies like the FBI, CIA and US Attorney’s Office. Bob’s work also brought him international exposure when he was selected to train in Israel with Mossad (the CIA equivalent) and Shin Bet (FBI equivalent) in the war on terror.

Before leaving the JRIC, his responsibilities also included the planning, logistics, and response to man-made and natural disasters. Very few law enforcement officials are ever exposed to this kind of logistical planning operations. Bob was later promoted to Lieutenant.

It was here he learned to manage the law enforcement responsibilities for a large community. He was responsible for a multi-million-dollar budget and a staff of over 150 public-safety professionals. His last unit of assignment was Chief of Law Enforcement Services, where he served a community about the size of Kootenai County. Throughout this time he worked directly with government and elected officials as well as community leaders. It is this experience that has prepared him to lead the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office into the future.

After his retirement Bob joined the prestigious Kootenai County Search & Rescue Team where -- to this day -- he continues to engage and serve the people in our community. With your support (and vote), he can apply his even-handed management style and approachability here in Kootenai County, and create an even stronger relationship between our community’s law enforcement professionals and the people they serve.

Kootenai County is one of the fastest growing counties and having a Sheriff with proven leadership abilities like Bob Norris will help to ensure that the Sheriff’s Office will be able to keep pace with the County’s growth and maintain its mission of protecting the citizens’ rights while keeping the area safe from dangerous criminals. This is a critical period for the County which is why we need to have a proven law enforcement leader like Bob Norris. 

Leadership Footnote: Bob was selected for many of the coveted leadership positions because of his thoughtful and approachable demeanor with his Deputies and the citizenry he served. His objective-oriented management style started with identifying the best quality staff within his unit and then to delegate them the responsibility to meet the department’s objectives and fulfill its mission of protecting and serving. The result of this leadership attitude filters down to the patrol Deputy, where they can emulate his style to create more friendly and productive relationship with the community they are dedicated to serving.