Uncategorized
Cool Coppers Get Kudos On Chase
April 9, 2009 
The Daily Paper ran a big page one story Thursday about Boise Coppers conduct during a chase involving a small time felon.
It all started when a copper spotted a wanted suspect along Broadway, gave chase eastbound on I-84 and ended up at Mt. Home. After nearly six hours they blew out a window and tear gassed him into surrender.
With plenty of “justification” to shoot the dude brandishing a pistola (turned out to be a BB gun), the coppers reacted methodically and adhered to all sorts of department policy and training, ending the chase and standoff peacefully near Mountain Home. He raced down I-84 at high and low speeds and the coppers resisted the temptation to smack him off the road with the PIT maneuver popular on TV reality shows.
Even the ombudsman’s remarks were a change. His message was, “Nobody got shot, they did their jobs without incident–no reason to investigate.”
The manner in which the coppers acted is a result of a gradual “cultural change” in the way Boise PD does business. It is a welcome change which should instill trust and respect–rather than fear–in good guys and bad guys alike.
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Comments & Discussion
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Apr 9, 2009, 6:27 pm
Hihg speed persuits put citizens in harms way.
This is a great example of using good judgement and not using “cowboy tactics”. Chief Masterson and his cops deserve kudos for their good judgement in this matter.
Can you imagine the stink if the cops had shot and killed the guy? It would be all over the papers, TV and elsewhere how the guy was a low level felon with a BB gun and ends up dying with a server case of lead poisoning with hot lead permeating various parts of his body.
Apr 9, 2009, 9:01 pm
I am an old person who has never had so much as a parking ticket but who has said for years that the thing I most feared in life was the Boise Police Department.
It is good to see a change in attitude and judgement.
Apr 9, 2009, 10:35 pm
Let’s hope this continues…
I think a lot of people in Boise are tired of BPD’s “shoot first, ask questions later” approach.
Very professional job, well done.
Apr 10, 2009, 12:53 am
I lied about the parking tickets. Mea culpa. No moving violations, however.
Apr 10, 2009, 7:59 am
I would have been flaming mad if I had been one of the people stopped for 6 hours on the interstate due to this guy.
Maybe we could develop an armored tow truck to just hook up to maniacs like this and transport them somewhere safe to deal with them in geologic timeframes??
Apr 10, 2009, 10:35 am
The days of high-speed pursuits should be coming to an end. There are very few reasons to endanger hundreds of innocent civilians anymore.
High-speed pursuits should be reserved for only very extreme crimes.
Too many innocent people are killed and injured each year because of completely unnecessary police pursuits. Pursuits escalate to very high danger levels within one or two minutes and can get completely out of control as more officers join in. This is not even mentioning taking at least a dozen or more officers or more away from other crime prevention duties.
While I am glad no one got injured, the question should really be if this pursuit was called for in the first place.
Apr 10, 2009, 3:44 pm
High speed pursuits are folly for cops. Rice rocket motorcycle riders with their mojo on can evade cops and do, some for entertainment or a good Keystone comedy show.
I agree (cautiously) that Masterson has made some changes to the BPD for the good of all citizens.
Apr 10, 2009, 5:34 pm
I don’t know why everyone is shocked that the police didn’t shoot. These days, you are hard pressed to get them to do anything.
I tried to get some simple cost information from the sheriff’s department a couple of months ago. Got the run around from everyone from the chief to the janitor, and never did get the info.
In this case I am surprised any of them joined the chase. Probably just a coincidence. Couple of cops running from responsibility at the same time and in the same place as the culprit headed out of town.
Good place to trim the budget if you ask me.
Apr 10, 2009, 8:07 pm
OK RJ, what would you consider “extreme”? Let’s see here, a fleeing felon with active warrants brandishing a weapon to police. How much more “extreme” would you want?