Officers of the Boise City Police were recently found by the Boise Community Ombudsman to have used excessive force.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/newsupdates/story/841919.html
Across the country we hear of shocking incidents, sometimes captured by witnesses on cell phones, camcorders, or sometimes law enforcement’s own equipment. I personally have viewed some of the later, and while no one was seriously hurt – the prosecutor in those cases agreed that they would speak to the officer(s) involved and recommend additional/remedial training.
Occasionally a particular incident, such as the Madison County deputy shooting that dog last year, will attract the attention of our local media – but we have no Ombudsman for review – an ‘independent’ agency, usually another local law enforcement agency reviews the matter, and either recommends action, or more often the case, does not.
Part of our notion of the safety of ourselves comes from having trust that our law enforcement officers are going to protect us, not hurt us.
As active, responsible citizens, should we do more to ensure that when these things happen here, proper responses are actually implemented? Furthermore, what would be the proper response in such situations?
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{ 85 comments… read them below or add one }
It was a Teton County deputy who shot the dog. Unless there was some other one I didn’t hear about. As with anyone in a position of authority, I think police abuse has been going on forever. It’s only since more people have recording devices that they get caught for it more. They used to just deny that anything happened. And who you gonna believe, a bad guy or a cop? Having local police agencies investigate each other is a bad idea too. I think there is too much of a buddy system to get an impartial investigation.
You’re absolutely right city slicker. It has gone on forever and it will continue to do so. It’s not something that can be stopped because it’s human nature. When you get your average person in a position of authority 9 out of 10 times they will abuse their power. It happens to the manager at your local McDonalds bossing around pimply faced teenagers and it happens in our nations largest banking institutions. Government jobs are no different. You give someone a gun and a badge and it’s inevitable. People don’t get into law enforcement for the money. And most dont get into it to “make a difference”. Most get into it because they thrive on the adrenaline rush they get from busting bad guys and the power they feel by bossing around civilians on a daily basis.
That’s my opinion.
Comment #1 is laughably absurd except the part about pointing out it was Teton county.
Post #1 says the police cannot be trusted to investigate themselves. Yet it was the Boise police who investigated themselves, found their officers in the wrong, and disciplined them.
Lets keep something in perspective.
There are about 1,000,000 cops nationwide and every day they handle tens of millions of calls for service and other contacts with the public. And of those countless tens of millions of contacts you’ll hear about only a couple of bad incidents a week. Do the math, thats an incident rate of something like .00000001% or less. And given the prevalence of cell phone cameras nowadays I’d say its fairly certain that if they were happening in 9 out of 10 cases like poster #2 says that we’d be swamped with bad cop stories.
Lets also keep something else in perspective. We’ve had a number of “bad cop” stories on this site over the years and the accusers have often come out with egg on their face. Remember the mom and son who accused the police of harassing them and framing her son. Remember how rude and abusive the police supposedly were. Remember how abusive the mom and son got on this site when anyone questioned them to the point that the son was threatening violence towards others here. And remember how both slunk away with their tails between their legs when the audio of the incident was released showing that the cops were professional the whole time and it was mom and son who were out of control. The point is: just because someone claims the cops did something wrong it doesn’t mean its necessarily true.
Commet 2 didn’t say 9 out of 10 cops abuse their power. Al you have to do is watch the nightly news to see the barage of people in powerful positions in society abusing their power. I think a lot of cops abuse their power but by abuse I don’t mean physical.
Well personally this cop uses a magic 8 ball in deciding to whether or not to abuse people.
And thats all I’m going to say in a thread that went into cop hate idiocy two posts in though I do appreciate the anonymous poster who seems to fair.
There are good and bad people in all walks of life. Power goes to some peoples head while others know their boundaries. When news stories like this one and the one about he officers that arrested that african american professor in his own house come out, it upsets the general population blogs all over the country have a field day. Its unfortunate when it happens but you cant turn a blind eye to it either.
anonymous are you a member of idaho falls corrupt police force
I used to be a real rebel in my younger days, disobeying the law and such. Some of my endeavors put me in the Bannock C. Jail. Even though I have grown out of my bad ways, and have become a good citizen obeying the laws, and paying my taxes, and in regret for my past actions, but appreciating what I have learned from them…some of the police in Bannock County, are very corrupt. Not only can I attest to this, but so can a few of my friends. When I was in jail there, I seen a deputy beat a man, cracking his head open, just because he had a bad attitude, and needed a so called “Attitude Adjustment”. I seen a deputy pull a man by the ear out of his bunk, just because he could not hear well, and didn’t understand the officers orders. I seen a few of the inmates taken to the bathroom, for an attitude adjustment, and came out so scarred, they wouldn’t dare mention what had happened. I can only wonder. I myself was threatened in a fight by another inmate, As I put my fist up, to protect myself, the deputies on guard, looking directly at us, did nothing to intervene. And I was shorted on the amount of money I had in my commissary at one time. My complaints we’re shunned and ignored when I got out of jail and complained to the authorities. Most of the them do not care down there. Very pathetic and very sad. Now don’t get to far ahead of yourselves, the ones who think I deserved it. I did not, no one should, there is no excuse for that kind of action, and additionally I was acquitted, as I was innocent from the start, although a rebel. I was once in jail in Bonneville County, for which a charge I was guilty of, and seen no such abuse, other then a guy taking a shower, and the drape, which was complained about falling all the time, and needing fixed, but nothing was done of it, and exposed his naked body when it constantly fell, to the women guards on duty. That was about all I saw, and which I considered petty. The guards we’re very nice and cool to us, as long as we showed the same respect. The differences between the two county’s was Ironic, I think.
In my own very limited personal experience with the local authorities, I have seen that the way you act generally dictates the way they act. Don’t turn into a raging idiot in front of the police and they won’t have to resort to doing stupid things to you. Of course this doesn’t work 100% of the time (pesky human nature again) but I believe it works more often than not.
I spent time with a lot of people, in my younger days, that had a lot more experience with law enforcement than I did. For the most part, the people who whined and moaned that the police were “out to get them” were doing something wrong. They bitched and moaned every time the police caught them doing something they shouldn’t have been doing, saying that they were watching them. Duh!
I have a much different perspective on the law and law enforcement now then I did 25-30 years ago, and I wish I’d had this perspective back then. Every angry teen that screams “down with the law” should be able to have this perspective, but alas, they just have to grow up.
And before anyone blows a gasket because they were one of the small percentage that have really had trouble with the law that wasn’t somehow their fault, look at the people you are/were around at the time before you throw judgment.
Your friends/acquaintances can be the catalyst that gets you tazed.
Then, with all things considered, if you can honestly say that there was no reason for you to be treated as a threat, you may actually be one of the rare people, IMHO, that actually were treated in a way you didn’t deserve.
TWIN FALLS (AP) — The county sheriff could have his certification by an Idaho law enforcement oversight group revoked after a hearings officer found that he violated department policies when he served as a sergeant.
A hearings officer with Idaho Peace Officer Standards and Training said Twin Falls Sheriff Tom Carter, while a sergeant, was insubordinate, took unauthorized leave and falsified records, and recommended Carter be decertified.
Carter’s “conduct demonstrates a patent disregard for the principles and standards of the Law Enforcement Code of Conduct,” hearings officer James Desmond wrote in a 22-page report finalized Wednesday and obtained by The Times-News by a public records request. “Carter’s decertification as an Idaho Peace Officer is therefore warranted.”
Idaho law enforcement officers typically must be certified by Peace Officer Standards and Training, but sheriffs, as elected officials, do not need that certification.
“My relationship with my department, other law enforcement entities, civic leaders and the citizens of Twin Falls County will remain positive and pro-active,” Carter said. “Despite the disappointment I feel at this latest evidence of the manipulative mishandling of my career, I will continue to lead the sheriff’s office in the right direction.”
On Jan. 29, 2007, when Carter was a sergeant with the Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Office, he was fired by then-sheriff Wayne Tousley following an internal investigation.
Post Register.
Cops are only human and they will make mistakes. Making a mistake as a cop does not make one a corrupt cop or a bad cop, it makes them human.
Kimball Mason was not a cop but I think we can all look back and see that was a case of corruption. On the other hand consider the two IFPD officers who were fired ten years or so ago after one of them was involved in a drunken crash. That was a case of two good cops who made a mistake. Many cop bashers tend to not see the distinction and not accept that a mistake does not automatically equal corruption.
And one must also separate what a cop does on duty from what he does off duty. A cop who does bad stuff off duty does not automatically equate to a bad cop on duty. Consider the case of the Ogden PD cop who four years ago or so was off duty in the SLC Trolley Square Mall when a kid came in with a gun and started massacring people. That Ogden cop saved countless lives by going after the shooter and was justifiably lauded nationwide as a great cop. Two years later he was sentenced on what amounts to child molestation charges because he’d been sleeping with an underage teen at the time. Obviously a bad person off duty but his behavior as a cop was still good. His good cop behavior doesn’t mitigate his molestations but his molestation charges don’t affect his work as a cop either.
I think most cops are generally fair and are just doing their job, but we have to remember all the crap they deal with on a daily basis and like Anonymous said, “they’re only human” and mistakes are made.
While I believe if you treat officers with respect you’ll in turn get respect. However with that being said, it’s not a crime to be disrespectul and police officers are trained to not let rude comments directed towards them to where it will cloud their judgement. But all too often an officer will arrest someone merely for being rude and that in my opinion is an abuse of their power. I’ve personally witnessed it during my younger years and you see it all the time on the show “Cops”. Some perpetrator will mouth off to the cop or say “go ahead and arrest me” over a simple traffic infraction or some other minor offense that should have ordinarilly required a citation and let the person go on their way, but the cop will let his emotions into the equation and before you know it their being hauled to jail. As a previous poster noted, many people cant handle positions of power, whether it be a supervisor in a company or an officer of the law.
While I think the black Cambridge professor that was recently arrested in his own home should not have mouthed off to the cops, he did have every reason to be upset. Should he have been more respectful towards the cops? Yes. But regardless of whether he was or not, the cops should not have let somebody’s smart-assed comments dictate whether or not a trip to jail was in order. They should have never arrested him, especially once they found out he was in his own home and it wasn’t a break-in. I believe theres still a lot of racial discrimination in law enforcement today and it needs to be addressed.
What should we do when it happens here?
I think we should all go have a beer with President Obama and talk the problem over. After all he is just one of the guys now, and it seems he’s decided to become a great mediator since he stuck his foot in orator Obamas mouth.
There seems to be a lot of head in the sand to me around the nation and especially our town here.
The poo-poohing police abuse as just a “it will always happen” or even worse “don’t do anything wrong and you have nothing to fear” is sort of the same attitude that allowed the powers that be to push through the horrific Patriot Act (I and II) that stole all of your rights and said that you have nothing to fear from it all as long as you aren’t a badguy. Bullocks!
They abuse their power, we allow them to, those in power even here locally will do not a damned thing to stop them, those at the national level do not want them to NOT have these powers and meanwhile much of citizenry continues to shove their heads into the sand while cops continue to beat up on EMT’s and bicyclists.
The question was, what are we going to do about it? SE Idahoans are renown for not wanting to engage in any political or social causes outside of the local neocon republican party that refuses to acknowledge its roots and its foundational ideas, and maybe a few democrats that wish to fight for gays rights or a gay bar in I.F. thinking that that will fix all that is wrong with the world..
So, here are a few more examples fellow Idahoans – What are we gonna do about it?
http://tinyurl.com/nq6txh
http://tinyurl.com/c5wpbv
http://tinyurl.com/mv65cp
http://tinyurl.com/nx9f7f
http://www.mediafire.com/?jmetmennvmh
Great examples Smokin Joe except for one thing. In every case the police in question were investigated by their own departments and either suspended or fired (one resigned before he could be fired). Looks like the police can be trusted to police their own. As another poster mentioned, there are 1,000,000 cops nationwide so you of course are going to have frequent but isolated incidents of abuse. Remember we are talking about ONE MILLION cops. And yet we only hear about the infrequent incident. Sounds like overall the police are doing one heck of a job.
Contrast that to doctors who have been shown statistically to kill tens of thousands of people a year through error. If Cops killed even 1% that many through error the cop haters would be screaming from rooftops. Yet its usually crickets on the Dr front.
Guess what? I don’t like cops either. I don’t like them for the same reason that I don’t like doberman pincers or bull terriers. They’re all walking weapons and you never know if one of them is looking to inflict some pain until it’s too late.
I’ve got an Uncle who’s a cop, and have had a couple good friends who worked on different police forces, but I’ve never really been able to get comfortable around any of them. They never really took their badges or their attitudes off. They were cops to the bone, 24 hours a day.
I may not like them on a social basis but I’m the first guy on the block to call 911 when there’s something happening that threatens the life or limb of any of my neighbors. Most of the complainers on this thread probably do the same.
As far as police brutality is concerned, I was cuffed once and it wasn’t fun. But then I wasn’t willing to have it happen. This was pre taser time, but I wasn’t putting up a taser quality fight anyway.
If I hadn’t have given them any crap, I wouldn’t have taken any knots on my head.
Just imagine living without a police presence for a couple weeks. Even in a city like Idaho Falls things would fall apart pretty fast. You guys can go ahead on and cast wholesale condemnation on the evilities of our police departments, but when you get right down to it, it’s a percentage game. I’ll take my chances at running into a good cop over a good criminal any day of the week.
Some people say that it happens so infrequently why worry about it. I think it happens more that what we hear about on the news and those are just the worst cases. What about all the instances where it isnt reported.
And you know this how Guest?
I’ve seen it happen with my own eyes unfortunately.
Sure a lot of paranoid haters on this site. If it was easy, “being a cop”, everyone would be one.
I wouldn’t want to be a cop. The pay is squat and you have to deal with the scum of society most days. No thanks you can keep it.
Base, you need to provide examples and facts if you want your assertions to carry any creditability
I was a police officer in Idaho Falls for many years during the 80’s and 90’s. I responded to many many calls of all types. I can honestly say that in all of those years I never once saw any officer do anything that was out of line in regards to use of force or honesty. I never saw anyone struck when it it was not necessary and inline with law and policy. I never saw anyone take any property that did not belong to them or misuse their authority in any way. You all can say what you would like to say, but ride around in a police car for nearly 20 years and work with these guys and you will be really qualified to make comments about their ethics and behavior. I am proud of the years I worked there and I am proud of the people I worked with. There were a few real dickheads, but most of them were Administration. A few old Captains that were complete idiots — not very SMART at all. The trash that I knew have all retired, Chief Roos is a remarkable person who will run that Department with all of the honesty, entegrity and honor that is possible. One of the finest men I have ever known.
You folks in IF should be proud of that Department. If you knew what it was like to do that job for a long period of time you might appreciate them more. Try giving up 75% of the weekends with your kids from the time they are born until they aree 18. Work every Christmas 6 or 7 years in a row — walking into some dumpy trash-filled home because dad is knocking the sh@* out of mom while the kids hide behind the tree. Go to work every day and think about dying or possible taking finding it necessary to take another life. That gets heavy after a while. I have no reason to lie. If I saw any abuses of power I would have taken action. I never did. Not even once
oh, and sorry about the typos. I will proof read next time
I have seen first hand drugs go missing from not only crash sites but also vehicle searches. I have seen three handguns get confiscated without ever having them make it to an evidence locker. There were also several times that there was name calling as well as aggressive “man handling” toward women. One of the officers I am referring to was convicted of child abuse several years ago.
I know there are probably only one or two bad eggs but I would advise everyone to know their rights and watch out when approached. Those few bad officers have a tendency to cover each other in these situations.
I would love to name names but I don’t think that’s in my best interest.
No, cops don’t abuse their powers….never. Check out this officer tazering a deaf & disabled man in Alabama. http://www.kidk.com/news/national/51865277.html
It happens all over the country every single day and little ole Idaho isn’t immune. For poster just me to claim he never once saw a fellow officer do anything out of line is an outright liar period.
Base,
Those are very serious accusations you are making. If those officers are local and still on the job and you have direct knowledge of these incidents, you have a responsibility to contact the internal affairs office and make a report. If like most of the rest of the posts in this thread, these claims of “abuse” happened years ago or hundreds of miles away, your post is irrevelant.
The incidents I am speaking of happened within the last 15 or so years. Yes, they were in this area.
I did report one of the officers and I was told that nothing could be done since it was a group of “hooligans” accusing an officer of the law of wrong doing. That officer was later convicted of child abuse (his own son) and is no longer a peace office.
The other several occasions could not be reported seeing that the property that was stolen was from a guilty party (I assure you, not me, I was just there to witness it) and there was an unspoken deal made.
On one occasion the media got involved and reported on the disappearance of drugs froma crime scene but that is where it stopped.
What about the deputy that was recently convicted of taking prescription narcotics out of the evidence locker? That was local. Some of you seem to think that none of these things happen locally and that we’ve got top notch honest law enforcement here but you’re completely wrong in that line of thinking. I’m not say everyone in law enforcement is crooked but it happens more than you know or more than you want to admit to yourself.
wow! I am an “outright liar.” Anon, I just tried to share my point of view on the subject — from my perspective after 18 years on that department . I have no motivation to lie. Frankly I left that Department for reasons that would easily motivate me to run it down as much as possible — and I have done so when the points that I was making were valid and based in truth. But if the topic is IFPD Officers abusing their authority and abusing the puplic, i gotta say — I never saw it. Were there some serious idiots working down there? Yes there were. Are there corrupt police officers all over the country on most any Department? I bet there are — just like there are corrupt Lawyers, Doctors, politicians, department store clerks etc. etc. Did I see any police corruption in my 18 years on the IFPD? The answer is still no. Sorry Anon. I know how much that must hurt you to hear — judging by your response to my post. I made a simple comment based on fact. You just dont like it because it goes against what you want to hear and what you want to believe. I have to wonder how many times you have been arrested? answer that one and we will likely see who the liar really is.
We can only go by our own experiences, except people who insist on perpetuating hearsay.
As far as calling someone a liar because they were never privy to the horrible happenings in the police force, here is another way to look at that.
I would think that the bad eggs, and yes, there probably are some, know who will stick with them and who will turn them in. i would think that the bad ones would probably not do bad things around the people that are, for lack of a better term, “clean”.
Like seems to attract like.
Now Alice is thinking! Smart lady indeed.
Its amazing how certain people would crucify a cop who profiles but those people in turn have no problem profiling all cops as corrupt based on the bad actions of a few. Any cop will admit there are some bad cops out there, its like “just me” said when he noted there are bad people in every profession and always will be. Its how those professions deal with their bad eggs that matters and I’d say overall the police have been done an excellent job in most places ever since 1993 (Rodney King). Every verifiable case of corruption noted in this thread was dealt with swiftly and harshly by the involved departments – what more do you want public floggings off all the other officers who did nothing wrong.
“all cops as corrupt “–Who said that? I thought we were talking about a few isolated incidents?
I’d also like to know who said that. From what I see all the posters who commented on this topic mentioned a few bad apples. I’ll put my contacts in and re-read the comments maybe I missed something
Posts 2, 10, and 27 all make blanket accusations against cops. One states that 9 out of 10 will abuse their power, another says abuse happens every day right here in Idaho, and so forth. Not every poster has made blanket assumptions against cops but some of the harshest critics here sure have.
Wrong again, stop reading into comments things that aren’t there. Comment 2 stated that 9 out of 10 persons in a position of authority, they didn’t specify cops in that sentence. Not sure what your reading into in comment 10. And comment 27 said it happens everyday in America not Idaho.
It’s amazing how one person can read a comment or three and come across with something completely different than everyone else.
Perhaps this discussion took a different tack than intended – corruption exists in all areas of life, witness the New Jersey Rabbis being led handcuffed to jail lately.
The biggest question I think we need to address, is when it happens (excessive force,) what should be the proper response? Law enforcement personnel are human too, and humans make mistakes and have bad days. There are procedures to follow if a doctor makes a mistake and someone dies or is made worse, there are procedures if a lawyer or judge messes up and someone suffers from those mistakes – what procedures would be proper when an officer of the law makes a mistake and someone is hurt?
Good point
There are already processes in place for citizens to make complaints. Every agency has some form of an “internal affairs” unit that investigates these complaints.
Sorry, but police abuse is and has been happening in Idaho falls already. They don’t follow the laws they are suppose to be following, yet are trusted to enforce the laws we are required to follow.
“and who will police the police?”
You all have I am certain heard the audio from the cops threatening to taze his arse or his testicles off right?
http://www.idahostatesman.com/newsupdates/story/841919.html
http://tinyurl.com/n7xuqf
“Hard day at work today honey?”
“yeah baby, we almost had to sodomize some guy today and had to threaten him a bunch in order to make ourselves not seem so insignificant. “
Kudo’s to Smokin Joe for pointing out what a great job the Boise PD did in this instance. They had an officer use excessive force and the Boise PD investigated their own officer and found him to have used excessive force. They are now in the disciplinary process against that officer. Thank you Smokin Joe for the article that once again shows that the police can be trusted to police their own.
Smokin Joe’s comment is especially delicious since he was intending to make exactly the opposite point but if he’d bothered to actually read beyond the headlines and highlights he’d see that my point is the accurate one.
Slightly off topic but I’ll dovetail it to the point of the article at the end. The City of Idaho Falls recently did a wage survey at the behest of the police officer’s union to see if the wages for the IFPD were comparable to that of similar agencies in similar size cities. In what was no surprise to the officers the wages and benefits were way below that of the others. This is creating a huge problem for the IFPD in attracting quality candidates. And imagine how bad it is for the even worse paying agencies like the sheriff’s office. Where the IFPD once could count on 300 people applying for a few openings they are lucky to get 50 now. This is relevant to the issue at hand because as you cut down on the applicants the likelihood that you’ll end up with a marginal officer increases and the more likely that the department will be forced to take a chance on someone who might be a risk for being power hungry and abusive.
The pay doesn’t factor in as much as you’d like everyone to believe. The cost of living here in IF is much lower than most other cities.
I can’t see how pay can’t factor in. Pay is the bottom line in any job, unless you really don’t need the money.
It would be nice if people only took jobs in public service because it made them feel all warm and fuzzy, but that’s not the case. People move for better paying jobs every day.
The wage survey that was mentioned compared the IFPD to agencies in places like Pocatello, Twin Falls, Nampa, Couer’d Alene, Logan, UT, etc. All ones that are either close to here / same state or of similar size. So the cost of living excuse for the low wages doesn’t really hold muster.
Does that survey take into account the IFPD’s policy of free cars for both personal and work use? With insurance, registration, fuel and so on that’s worth quite a bit.
Its the standard for most departments to have take home cars now. Even our low paying Bonneville County sheriff’s office has them. Not all departments allow them for personal use but I can tell you that not many officers like to use the cars for personal use other than getting to work and back because they are constantly getting flagged down and they don’t like putting their family in them.
Regardless, yes this was accounted for as well but it was a wash with most places since they have take home cars too.
The cars are not free for the IFPD to take home. They are $25 a month. In some cases, it is $50 I think for those that live out of IF.
wow 25 dollars a month!! real expensive for taking a car home.
There is currently no charge for taking a patrol car home. I don’t know where Idahonative came up with that.
I don’t mind the officers taking their cars home. I’d like to think that seeing them maybe makes people think twice about doing anything bad, at least in the general vicinity of the car.
The cars don’t help much of anything in the parking lot.
Guest2. You better get your facts straight. There is a charge for taking the patrol cars home.
http://www.kidk.com/news/local/52483247.html
Just another example of our local police out of control. Shooting a poor dog four times because, and I quote, it looked sick. So now our local officers are trained vets and its up to them to decide whos dog lives or dies in the city of Shelly. These three officers are a disgrace to the uniform and should be fired immediately. Its not like this was a rabbid german shepard out of control terrorizing the neighborhood. This was a 14 y/o pug with arthritis that three officers shot four times to suppossedly put it out of its misery. F’n pathetic! And cops wonder why nobody likes them.
Shelley cops have always been (comment edited by site admin).
However, on to the journalism front.
“The police had come. They’re were three of them. They cornered the dog and they blasted him with four shots,” says Schuetz
Learn to spell. This guy said it, it’s your job to spell it right Ms. McGraw.
Babee took his last walk that morning. He wander out the back door and was lost for hours in 90 degree heat and with bad arthritis.
He wander out the back door eh? That has a nice twang to it.
“The officer, Lewis, who shot him called me up and explained he thought the dog was sick and he should be put out of his misery,” he says.
Great. Now what does the officer say?
“You don’t go around shooting people’s animals, regardless,” says Rory Schuetz, Stanley’s son.
Slow news day? This wasn’t necessary. Fill time much?
All that is left now, is a police report, which they stand by. The dog looked sick and killing it was the last resort.
Comma where it isn’t necessary. Overall nonsensical conclusion.
The entire story was biased. There wasn’t any mention that the Shelley Police Department had been contacted. I don’t doubt that they weren’t contacted. Is anything being done with the corpse (rabies testing maybe)? Did the officers’ do the right thing by department and state guidelines? What do the officers’ superiors think?
I mean, it pisses me off that they shot this dog four times, but this is a damn editorial, not a news article. If I wanted to read an editorial or opinion article, I’d come to this website. If I want news, I’ll go to KIFI’s website….evidently KIDK doesn’t have it together.
Learn to write news.
I think that post # 57 (above) should be removed or at least edited due to its foul language.
Post # 57 should be removed or edited for profanity. Common Marcus, show some class!
Go ahead, remove it, I’ll post it right back up.
Cope guest. You know I have no class.
Channel 8s website isn’t much better. read the front page. http://www.localnews8.com/
Accused Killer’s Charges Reduced
Posted: Aug 5, 2009 11:52 AM MDT
Reuben Jensen is facing voluntary manslaughter charges after he allegedly hit is father-in-law in the hit with a two-by-four.
Full Story
He hit his father in law in the hit?
Channel 6s website is just as bad. I think the same person posts and edits all three sites.
I guess that’s what we get for living in a first TV job market (162)…
These kids the local stations keep hiring piss me off.
I do wish they were more worried about presenting the news correctly and without bias than being the first to present it.
I have noticed lately that most of the news stories on the news websites appear to have been speed written before coffee.
I, too have a good chuckle at all three news’ sites lack of editing sometimes. I frequently wonder if someone talks into the little recorder thingy attached to a computer – you know, the voice recognition which in turn types of what you say. It’s the only excuse I can think of for such poor grammar, spelling, etc.
As for the Shelley story, it does sound harsh from the kidk web site. However, as with all cases involving the police, there are two sides for every story. Was the dog a known problem or entity in the neighborhood? Is there more to it we don’t know? At the very least, the police report should be requested in a public records request, AS WELL AS any other problems the owner/dog have been involved in. If there’s nothing on them but this one incident, there’s a problem. At the very minimum, impound it safely and have the local vet do a once over.
Thats how I see it. Impound the dog but 3 officers shooting it a total of 4 times because it looked sick is wrong. Sounds like the Shelley cops are trigger happy. Did it really take 3 officers to shoot one tiny dog thats got arthritis?
Seems almost like a firing squad eh?
I definitely think protocol should have been to take the dog to the vet before taking it upon themselves to “put it to sleep”.
Four shots from a nine millimeter did more than put it to sleep. Shelley cops have nothing better to do in their podunk little town. It’s bad enough they hide behind bldgs and bushes waiting to clock you driving 4 miles over the speed limit, or they pull you over for no reason if youre driving through town after 1am, they harrass the local teens and now this. Time to clean house over there.
I’ve been following the National Police Misconduct Research Project’s (InjusticeEverywhere.com) bad cop news stories at
http://www.twitter.com/injusticenews
for a couple of weeks now and let me tell you it is disturbing how many criminals there are with a badge and the power of the state behind them. What’s being done about this?
Re: comment #52
City officers who live in town pay $25.00 a month for their take home cars. Officers who live out of town pay more based on how many miles away they are. Some pay as much as $80.00 a month. As was mentioned, take home cars are the standard for the majority of departments nowadays as its actually cheaper for the departments to have take home cars for the officers as the cars last four to five times longer than they do being driven 24/7. And officers are accountable now for the damage where its hard to pin damage to an officer when its a fleet car being shared by multiple officers. So again as has been mentioned, the IFPD is not gaining some extrordinary benefit over other departments, they are merely getting a similar benefit.
Re:post 69
As mentioned at any given time there are about 1,000,000 cops nationwide. And that number is constantly in flux as some retire, others resign, others get fired, and replacements come in. Idaho Falls PD handles on average over 100 calls for service a day and probably makes twice that many traffic stops. Thats 300+ contacts a day in just the IFPD alone. Nationwide there are going to be tens of millions of calls / traffic stops every day. No one, not even cops, deny there will be bad events as cops are just human with human faults and it would be utterly naive to think that all 1,000,000 were good all the time. As I said earlier in the thread though there are actually very few bad incidents considering the tens of millions of calls per day. That means well over 99.99% of the time the cops are doing a good job.
One other thing – some of your stories mentioned lawsuits settled and thats really meaningless. Often its cheaper for governments, just like it is for businesses, to buy off (i.e. settle with) a plaintiff than pay years of attorneys fees to fight off the frivolous claim. Obviously some were valid but just as many were by sue happy people.
i really doubt 99.9 statistic very much.
Is the Officer Lewis in the Shelley incident the same Lewis who used to work the IFPD and then went to work for Shelley after resigning from the IFPD to avoid disciplinary action for an excessive force incident?
I really doubt there are 200 traffic stops a day in Idaho Falls. (let alone 300+ total calls in IF) Where are you getting these statistics Anonymous comment 71?
http://www.co.bonneville.id.us/911/calls.html
Looks like they haven’t updated their site since January of 2008 but for that month the IFPD handled 5441 incidents. Now I did notice that nearly 500 of those were messages to the officer. And I’m sure a few others here and there weren’t actual calls. But you do easily have 4000+ calls for service and traffic stops that month. And January is a slow time of year relative to the summer when its busy. Traffic stops also pick up in the summer as the bad roads in the winter tend to keep people’s speed down. And this is just the IFPD by the way, you can see the BCSO’s stats elsewhere at the same address.
CR67 just got pwnd.
(comment edited by site admin. me, please abide by the community guidelines.)
Joe, Please remove post # 77 as offensive!
“Me” is a little immature lately in his/her posts, anyone notice? Me – try to have adult conversation with the rest of us, kiddo.
I thought it was funny.
I have been a reader and poster on this site for over 2 years. I have tried to contribute to the discussion in an honest and thoughtful way. I will no longer participate in this site. I have asked that the sites editors remove offensive and profane posts and other simple requests and have been ignored. Joe you should run a cleaner show. This site has become a juvenile playground and I don’t want to play. OUT!
Have you heard the latest? IFPD will be cracking down on, get this, crosswalk violators. Channel 6 reports that undercover officers will be staking out crosswalks all around the city for the next couple months and ticketing crosswalk violators. Some say we should be extremely happy about this. Our sleepy little town obviously has no real crime going on if we’ve got the money and manpower to dedicate officers to specifically watch crosswalks. Nice to see our tax dollars hard at work cracking down on such blatant criminal activity.
Three cheers for the IFPD! hip hip huu..
oh you didnt find that humorous, i guess a lot of the people out there who call the law enforcement by other names are offensive too.
guest are you one of the chosen ones that patrol the streets of idaho falls….all that heavy workload…..the cops here should go to new york and LA, maybe then they could earn their pay
OOOO–Bold words.
“Current cop” – come on, stick it out. You don’t give up against your local dirtbag, do you? So don’t let a few new idiots here scare you away. It waxes and wanes over time, you’ll see. Keep on coming back, I know I’m not the only one who appreciates a variety of opinion here, as long as they are presented with a touch of maturity. Hope you stay.