As a Veteran’s Park Neighborhood resident, I see a lot of petty property crime especially along the greenbelt in the Pleasanton spur area. I would like to thank the BPD bicycle patrol for taking the complaints of area residents seriously. I’ve noticed the increased presence. And no, guardian, we’re not in an urban renewal district, yet.

What I want to know, is who decides the “priority.” How do I get that job? Is it the Mayor and/or city council? Is it Chief Masterson?

I’ve included a couple of pics of some of the more expensive vandalism to Boise Parks and Rec property. The first dock at Quinn’s Pond, aka the Clocktower Pond has been repeatedly vandalized since it was installed in the summer of 2006.

Here’s a frustrating thing about our city government. I spoken to numerous people at Parks and Rec about the vandalism at the pond. With respect to the graffiti, do you think one of them would have contacted their very own volunteer coordinator? NO! Molly Holt, are you listening? The graffiti on the railing at the dock has been there for months and nobody has bothered to paint it over, even though you’ve been informed of it (the graffiti).

The Sur 13 graffiti is gang graffiti and not simple tagger stuff. Anyway, Parks and Rec volunteer coordinator Jerry Pugh has promised they would take care of it. Let’s see how long it takes.

The point is, if you see any vandalism at any of the Parks, report it to Jerry Pugh, PH: 384-4060 ext. 319, not to Molly Holt.

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EDITOR NOTE–Many thanks for the photos. We encourage EVERYONE to send images to illustrate comments.

Good basic report their BG, but I think your painting the wrong picture by implying that they don’t work very hard on non violent crimes.

Violent crimes usually have witnesses (even if its the victim or the victims body), usually there is a percievable motive, there is typically more evidence, and generally speaking violent criminals are (or will be) repeat offenders and therefore will eventually show up on the radar again (if they haven’t already.

I think its also appropriate to note why most petty crime is unsolved, they usually involve not a lot of hard evidence that leads to a specific perp, are unwitnessed, many are “victim less” (unless you count the city or public property as the victim) and involve difficult to track items.

Not that petty crime isnt important. It is a great marker for other types of crime and criminal presense. But its not fair to imply that officers turn a blind eye or don’t care. These types of crime are different animals with different challenges and approaches are required. Thats where the community policing and such comes into play, and I am happy to say that I like the Boise community police officers I have had contact with outside of the job. Called in a complaint once at 3 AM, not only were the Patrol officers on it promptly (wich I expected) but a community police officer assigned to my neighborhood called me back at 0330 am! Now I was already back on my way to lala land so I was doubly shocked, but hey, they are doing their job!

EDITOR NOTE–The police appreciate your support and confidence in their abilities. You always have a back up job working for the local media or grinding out press releases for public servants.

Yes they did, but again, they encountered many of the same difficulties I cited above. Did they make a dent? Yes. It would be more useful to compare BPD’s petty crime statistic to a national database for similar sized cities.

Im not saying that they arnt important, only that they are a different animal to track, and prosecute.

Therefore an apple to apples (petty crime to violent crime)is not possible, and any comparison is at best an oversimplification or downright misleading.
This is true for positive and negative statistics.

Simply sppeaking from a distant recollection of my criminal justice, sociology, and related classes.