We talked to the union prez who reports the copper on the case had already contacted the manufacturer in England as well as a Boise Bike mechanic. Both are donating their services and parts to “gitterdone.”

It all started when a bad guy stole an expensive trike from a special needs victim. The trike was stolen Sunday afternoon from in front of the man’s residence. It was his only means of transportation. It was recovered at two locations Monday after the news media highlighted the story.

GUARDIAN kudos go to the media, the public, the coppers, the manufacturer, and the bike mechanic for doing the right thing and helping a fellow citizen in need. No doubt the “real media” will have an official report from the coppers public relations dept. We just wanted to make sure the story gets out now.

Related posts:

1. Coppers Cap Canine, Same Old Story
2. Coppers Ask For Equal Treatment On Texting Ban While Driving
3. Coppers Cope With Public Puffing

Boise PD has a “bar team” which works Wednesday through Saturday with a Sgt. and at least six coppers assigned to the area in an effort to keep the peace. Without question the area is the highest concentration of booze vendors and resulting booze-releated crimes.

In the past we recall murders, near riots prompting coppers to call for firemen to hose down the crowd (firemen refused), and street clearing displays of force with coppers from throughout the Valley assisting. Taxi restrictions, private parking lot policies and petty theft all compound the problems faced by coppers.

Of course there were the two incidents with the Ada Sheriff’s Deputy getting popped for drunken escapades and the two drunks who peed on the passed out homeless guy.

EDITOR NOTE–Expect to see crime reporting stats soon that will show downtown is the place to visit without regard to shooting, stabbing, assaulting coppers, etc.

Related posts:

1. Melt Down At Boise’s Idaho Ice World Continues
2. Boise Continues Land Speculation, Swaps Property To Avoid Bid Law
3. Who Says Crime Doesn’t Pay?

–The new bridge across the Coloorado River below Hoover Dam is a great time saver if you are headed south of Las Vegas, but you can’t see it (or the dam) as you drive across. Thee is a parking lot and pedestrian access on the north end of the bridge.

–Arizona entrepreneurs have figured a way to sign up residents to buy solar panels for their rooftops. The the deals amount to obligations to purchase, but are to be repaid with the money earned by selling power back to the electric company that is forced to purchase the power. The real money is in the “Renewalable Energy Credits”–a mini version of the windmills lumped into thousands of invididual homeowners.

–Old semi-trailers are used along the freeways as billboards. Either to skirt a billboard law or just because they can be moved easily.
–Trucks outnumber cars by at least two to one on I-10 from Phoenix to El Paso, Texas.

–From El Paso to San Antonio you really have to WANT a speeding ticket…the speed limit is 80 mph. Some of the trucks actually go that fast, but the 585 miles stilll go slow, even at 80!

–Amazed at the number of people who choose not to watch news or read papers. A friend in boise gave up news for Lent and liked it so much he has adopted the practive permanently.

–Motorhome culture in Arizona provides lots of jobs. The big ones are everywhere–even with gas at $4 per gallon.

–Border Patrol seems to be everywhere. The inspection station at Sierra Blanca, Texas permanently blocks I-10 just like at a border crossing. Dogs sniff vehicles and the armed agents check everyone passing through…both reassuring and disconcerting.

Related posts:

1. Thoughts From The Road Summer 2011
2. Some Educated Thoughts To Consider
3. Dorothy Goes Down Yellow Brick Road To Credit Union

Our recent memory includes the former prosecutor embezzlement case, another former prosecutor’s son with kiddie porn, a pair of DMV clerks making off with nearly three quarters of a million dollars, a sheriff’s posse clerk charged with embezzlement, and today a former maintenance super plea bargains counts of “false accounts” for work he never did.

Each time we learn of another crook in 2/C government it begs three questions:
–Is Canyon more corrupt than other counties?
–Do they have better auditing and investigation techniques to catch bad guys (and gals)?
–Are the workers just dumb crooks and get caught easier?

According to the AG, Former Canyon County maintenance superintendant Andrew Eveland pleaded guilty today to four counts of presentation of false accounts, a felony under Idaho Code § 18-2706, and one count of grand theft, also a felony under Idaho Code §§ 18-2403(1) and 18-2407(1)(b)(8), Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said. Eveland entered his pleas during a hearing before Third District Judge Susan Wiebe in Canyon County.

The Canyon County grand jury returned an indictment on December 7, 2011, charging Eveland with 40 counts of presentation of false accounts and one count of grand theft. Pursuant to the plea agreement, the state dismissed the remaining counts.

The indictment issued by the grand jury alleges that Eveland submitted false invoices and claims to the Canyon County Commissioners for cleaning services that were never rendered at the Canyon County Juvenile Detention Center. It also alleged that Eveland wrongfully appropriated various items of county property to his own use.

The Attorney General’s Special Prosecutions Unit investigated and prosecuted the case at the request of the Canyon County Prosecuting Attorney, because it involved allegations of criminal misconduct by a former county employee.

Judge Wiebe ordered a pre-sentence report and set a sentencing hearing for June 28, 2012.

Related posts:

1. Canyon County Corruption Continues
2. Probation Officer Probe Moves To Canyon
3. Ada, Canyon Clerks Urge Supremes To “Get ‘er Done”

MODERN PARKING VENDOR IN PARIS

We hear the “multi space” parking vendor machines tested previously at City Hall didn’t pass the public acceptance test. Folks just weren’t ready to go to the kiosk and return to their vehicle and display the receipt on the dash.

Some even newer machines will soon be tested in the BoDo area that will cover multi car spaces. These solar powered devices will rent individual spaces by the numbers–like some of the private lots downtown. Instead of a meter maid (or butler) being forced to check the spots or look for dash displays, they will have a hand held “app” that will tell them which spaces are expired. Those machines could be more profitable for the city because they eliminate the need for individual meters and allow those friendly meter monitor people to make a single stop without checking an entire block.

If we can just get an “app” to track a GPS on the bicycles peddled by the meter monitors and sound an alert, it could save everyone some cash (or credit card) money.

No related posts.

Neighbors say the dog is friendly, cops justify the shooting. No reason to doubt any of the players. From what we can gather, the dog was owned by a party not involved in the original incident. No doubt the matter of a license and allowing the dog to roam will be part of the various reports that will follow.

But the GUARDIAN asks once again, how come mail carriers, meter readers, and delivery drivers never have to use deadly force to kill dogs? Surely these people come into contact with dogs more often than coppers.

By his own account, the copper was scared and that’s why he shot the dog three times. Turns out this is a long standing trend nationwide. A reader sent us a link to a site called PUPPYCIDE which details the national trend in police killing dogs out of fear.

No related posts.

Some excerpts from the Mayor’s Memo:
“Jumping into the river while floaters aren’t present would be legal; however, the city does not endorse or encourage this dangerous activity. Anyone who jumps does so at his or her own peril.

“For years the city has banned the practice of river surfing or “boogie boarding”, but we know that many people enjoy it. The new rules will give the parks department authority to designate certain stretches of the river as boogie-board-friendly.”

Nice to see an attempt by the council to go with the flow.

The City Council will formally consider these changes in the next few weeks; if they’re approved, coppers will emphasize education over enforcement during the early float season to help everyone become acquainted with the new rules.

Related posts:

1. Running Government Like A Business
2. GBAD Boys (and girls) Secret Government, Direct Violation Of Idaho Supreme Court Ruling–Case Law
3. Should Government Spend Tax $$ To Lobby?

Ada County Sheriff’s deputies conducted a criminal investigation of the circumstances. Sheriff Gary Raney told the GUARDIAN in a carefully worded statement, “There is not enough evidence to file criminal charges at this time,” apparently leaving the door open to further investigation and charges.

Here is the BPD version of events distributed to the legacy media:
In late 2011, a Boise Police employee who supervises the department’s armory discovered discrepancies in inventory control, specifically for weapons slated for destruction. The Boise Police Department immediately began an internal audit which confirmed record keeping procedures related to weapons marked for destruction had not been completed. Specifically, of 156 guns slated to be destroyed, required documentation to confirm destruction was lacking from 18 guns.

A criminal investigation conducted by an outside agency at the request of Boise Police did not result in criminal charges. During the investigation, the employee responsible for armory record keeping resigned. The department is now reviewing several major changes and improvements to the record-keeping process in the armory, with the expectation those changes will be implemented with the hiring of a new armorer later this spring.

“It was a department supervisor who found the problem. He and several others have been part of the process to fix it,” Said Deputy Chief of Operations William Bones.

“Anything that may mean a weapon has not been handled properly we take very seriously. We’ve looked and haven’t found any conclusive evidence these guns were not disposed of as they should have been. But the bottom line is the proper documentation to show they were destroyed isn’t there. I apologize to citizens for our failure to meet the high standards we expect in the Boise Police Department. We’re completing the investigation and taking steps to insure it won’t happen again,” said Deputy Chief Bones.

What are the weapons affected? The weapons involved are firearms that were slated for destruction by prosecutors, no longer needed for evidence and unsafe or otherwise unsuitable to be sold at auction. Weapons seized by police, if safe and legal, are often sold at auction per Idaho Code 55-403

How are these weapons destroyed? Once designated to be destroyed, procedure at the Boise Police department is the armory employee is responsible for the weapons destruction, most often done by cutting thru the metal with a commercial recycling saw.

Who’s responsible for the documentation? Armory employees are responsible for documenting the guns proper disposal, be it auction or destruction, per Idaho Code 55-403. At the Boise Police Department that is a part-time employee.

What happened to that employee? During the internal audit and investigation of armory practices, the employee resigned. The employee was hired for the part-time position in November, 2008, and resigned February 14, 2012.

Where are the guns? The BPD continues to investigate what did or did not happen to the weapons. They may have indeed been destroyed but lack the proper documentation to prove their destruction. Thanks to the internal audit, investigators have the serial numbers of the weapons involved where serial numbers could be retrieved (six of guns did not have serial numbers). So far, the BPD investigation has not found any evidence of the guns or gun parts not having been destroyed.

Investigations: In addition to the internal BPD audit and subsequent investigation, Boise Police requested investigators with the Ada County Sheriff’s Office conduct a criminal investigation. That investigation has been reviewed by Ada County Prosecutors and resulted in no criminal charges. The criminal investigation was recently completed. The internal Boise Police investigation and review are being completed and in the final stages.

Has the department taken steps to insure better record keeping? Yes. In addition to a personnel change, several employees using results from the audit and best practice research are reviewing several new systems for inventory and record-keeping improvement.

All City of Boise departments, including Police, are committed to rigorous performance standards and encourage employees and the public to assist in making our operations more efficient, cost-effective and accountable. The City has established mechanisms, including the Office of Internal Audit and the citizen Ethics Commission, to help ensure that potential problems are discovered and solutions implemented. The discrepancies in the Police Armory, and the steps being taken to correct them, are a further demonstration of that commitment.

Related posts:

1. New Group Vows To Police Boise Coppers
2. More Dirt On City Cleaning Contract
3. Update On City Cleaning Contract Caper

About the only thing the Commishes have done is renew the contract with Nancy Cladis for one year to operate the company on contract with the county. We have checked numerous sources who tell us there has been some contact with Cladis, but it is aimed mostly at a “transition to the Sheriff’s department.” No investigation by a law enforcement agency has been conducted.

WHOA! Since the original story, lawyers have revealed the state constitution CLEARLY places probation–without distinction of felony or misdemeanor–under the purview of the Idaho Department of Corrections. There are a bunch of laws passed by the legislature relating to misdemeanor probation, but they are without question UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

All those complaints from probationers and former employees apparently are not being addressed. Most of the reports have been about probation officers making their own rules and charging fees for services not rendered and draconian rules regarding urine and drug tests which the offenders have to pay for or face jail.

Meanwhile officials collectively say, “We don’t have any alternative at this point so we have to go with what we have.”

SJR 1202–a constitutional amendment–has quietly made its way through the legislative process and has been delivered to the Secretary of State. The constitutional amendment changes only a single word, adding “FELONY” to to the probation duties of the Department of Corrections.

The DOC already has the authority and duty to administer felony probation. By simply not mentioning “MISDEMEANOR” probation lawmakers somehow think that will give authority to counties to administer it. In truth, the legislature is making a feeble attempt to make legal all the past unconstitutional laws they have passed regarding misdemeanor probation.

Regarding the board of corrections, the constitution will read:
“This board shall have the control, direction and management of the penitentiaries of the state, their employees and properties, and of adult FELONY probation and parole, with such compensation, powers,and duties as may be prescribed by law.” The constitution STILL does not give specific authority to counties, nor does it remove authority from the state…it simply muddies the water.

Meanwhile the illegal Ada arrangement is set to continue until October. If the constitutional amendment fails, the Dept. of Corrections could contract with counties, but would have to maintain control of the finances and operation. The state has placed drug and alcohol treatment under the Dept. of Health and Welfare, but provides no funds to operate–which prompted Boise and Ada County to open their own facility. They do the same with misdemeanor probation, but that pesky constitution has once again interfered.

A class action lawsuit on behalf of probationers seems to have stalled in the court over procedural issues, but is still active.

Related posts:

1. County Probation System May Be Unconstitutional
2. Will Ada Probation Officer Get Probation?
3. Constitutionality Of County Probation Remains A Question

The GUARDIAN and readers had come down hard several years ago on the issue, prompting Boise PD chief Mike Masterson to make it a department policy to ban texting while driving. That policy is well on its way to becoming state law.

Today Masterson said the department still uses mobile computers in their patrol cars, but they are exploring various hands free devices. While the GUARDIAN still has problems with coppers reading and typing on a computer while a vehicle is in motion, it is clear the copper community understands the dangers involved and have moved in the right direction.

Related posts:

1. Obama, Feds Exempt Coppers From Tech Ban While Driving
2. Coppers Cooperate To Buy Bike Parts
3. Coppers On Choppers “Have Guns Will Travel”