Comments on: Coppers On Choppers “Have Guns Will Travel”

By: grim1118

grim1118 — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 14:58:16 +0000

Dave,
Take a look at some stats on summer motorcycle fatalities on Hwy 21. How much money is a person’s life worth, especially when you have a professional traffic unit to help out?
Have you checked out the BPD website and seen all the things the officers give to the community or FREE in terms of time and service? Especially kids. For example this Tuesday officers are taking about 700 kids, on their own time, up for a raft a long. How about the recent Citizen’s Police Academy where all the officers volunteered their off duty time to teach. Maybe that’s an idea…why don’t you sign up and attend the Citizen’s Police Academy so you’ll be a little better informed from both sides.

EDITOR NOTE–Last year there were NO FATALITIES involving motorcycles. Some would attribute that to the motor patrol, others would say idiots will be idiots regardless of out of county coppers patrolling. This is not an issue of “good cop, bad cop.” It is use of citizen assets, increased liability with absolutely NO BENEFIT to the citizens of Boise. No different than allowing ACHD drivers to earn extra cash plowing Boise County roads in the winter.

How would feel about Boise PD eliminating weekend night patrol and having coppers from Caldwell and Emmett do it for $45 an hour using their own patrol cars because Boise is trying to save money and keep taxes lower?

By: Nemo

Nemo — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 20:55:13 +0000

So..let me get this straight… It seems that the only time some people are willing to help out a neighbor is if there is profit in it for them?

This really seems like a non-issue to me. Tax payers are being compensated for the time and equipment, cops get a little extra $$ that they will in turn spend in their community, Boise county gets access to a rescource they dont have internally, and both public safety and local governments are working together…

Remember that government is not about TURNING A PROFIT…its about helping out. We may not always agree with the methods, and any project can be picked apart……but at least this is cooperation and good neighborness.

Isolationism gets us nowhere.

EDITOR NOTE–Nemo this is akin to ADA EMS giving the paramedics an ambulance so they can go to Boise County to earn $56 an hour for themselves and accept ALL liability on behalf of the county for any acts. The “neighbor” needs to raise taxes to rates as high or higher than Boise City to pay for the same services we pay for here. The true beneficiaries are the off duty coppers who rent their badge using public assets.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 02:47:23 +0000

This is just one more example of the TAXPAYERS BE DAMNED. Government has too much money if they can afford to fund this kind of screwball deal.

I wonder just how long it will be before a Boise biker cop hit a deer or other animal on that mountain road? Who gets to pay for the lost time and medical costs for the cop.

It is bad enough having an accident in a car but a motorcycle is a very unforgiving means of transportation.

A set of tires for a motorcycle are just about as expensive as those for a car and they only last about 8k miles.

This is about the worst way I can think of to enforce traffic safety.

By: JJ

JJ — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 22:21:57 +0000

eric049, I would have to disagree, I do not think the $65 per hour is for officer and bike, it is to pay for the officer only. (regular wage, plus overtime, regular fringe costs plus 15% for incremental fringe associated with the overtime) I am not sure any of the $65 is covering other costs (wear, tear and depreciation of the bike, fuel, insurance, not to mentioned the hard to quantify like officers returning to city beats not having had any recuperation on their time off). To me, this is akin to public works employees using city backhoes, dump trucks and other equipment to do side jobs in the evening and weekends (which I hear they do or have done in the recent past). While it is certainly a benefit to the employee, the tax payers are left with other risks and costs without the equal benefit in return.

EDITOR NOTE– JJ, you are totally correct. There is no charge built into the use of the very expensive BMW motors which come out in excess of $25,000 when outfitted. Boise citizens are also paying for the gas…you also have it with regard to the 15% which covers the incremental increase in the employer portion of taxes, etc.

By: East Side

East Side — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:54:41 +0000

Cyclops,
You might recall a fews back that exact thing did happen for the Race to Robie.
ACHD crews were used to clear the late snow and grade that dirt road – it is in Ada and Boise County.

Guadian’s coverage of it https://boiseguardian.com/2008/03/18/achd-assets-used-for-race/

By: Grumpy ole guy

Grumpy ole guy — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:51:56 +0000

Who pays the insurance for the officers and the motorcycles while engaged in this “patrol”. How are the work schedules arranged? It seems to me that the prime patrolling time in Boise County would also be the prime patrolling time in Boise City.
I worked for years as a public employee and never qualified for overtime since I was salaried. I averaged about 46 hours a week and fairly often worked 50-54 hours a week. I was covered by workman’s compensation while so engaged; but got no extra money, therefore no extra contribution toward pension, Social Security, etc.
I like the idea of inter-agency and inter-governmental cooperation and think that it should be encouraged. Such cooperative efforts should carry cooperative payments though, including insurance, depreciation and administrative costs and such arrangements should not come at the cost of reduced service for the entity the service.

EDITOR NOTE–YOU pay the premium and the claim because Boise is “self insured.” A 15% admin fee covers the extra contribution to benefits including SWS and medicare and hopefully the higher retirement payment. There truly is no profit for the BPD or benefit to Boise citizens.

By: East Side

East Side — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:35:55 +0000

overtime
this is much like the idea of Boise Fire Dept (and coppers) working a second job during their 3 or 4 days off.

One reason for time off is to recover from the stress of such jobs.

I don’t want a BFD or BPD person responding when they are fatigued and stressed because they have been working for the past 7 days.

Higher stress- less friendly (protect and serve). “hey I’m gonna ignore that call cuz I don’t feel like responding to a domestic”
Higher stress- more likely to do things like shoot a kid holding an antique gun.
Higher stress- more likely to do things like butt tazering and making bad decisions like deleting tape recordings.

If the Boise budget is not being helped out there is no reason the Council should’ve voted for this.

It should be ISP helping out.

By: Random

Random — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 16:22:15 +0000

Here’s another interesting tidbit. Boise PD or Ada County will not work crashes on Bogus Basin Rd if they occur within Boise county past milepost 9. ISP is called up and a unit must respond from the valley. (Typically a 30 – 60 minute response time) They’ll gladly take overtime to work the rest of Boise County, but don’t bother them when people start crashing on Bogus Basin anywhere near the lodge. So, if you crash your car on Bogus Basin Rd, would you like to sit there for an hour waiting for an ISP unit to show up or would you rather a city or county unit show up in half the time? Boise County would typically have to respond from the SH 55 or SH 21 area, so they’re usually not an option due to the extended response time. Not that there is normally a unit available anyway.

By: erico49

erico49 — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 12:40:08 +0000

Eagle and Kuna rent the ACS. BSU rents Boise police. Certainly the precedent has been established for intergovernmental shenanigans. Not that I agree with it. (Has Eagle paid up yet, by the way?) On the other hand, &65 per hour for an officer and a BMW doesn’t seem that out of line. And, after all, someone has to pay for Boise County since they can’t or won’t on their own. And who should be surprised that one branch of ITD doesn’t consult another?

EDITOR NOTE–You are correct. Those local units of government hire the “big brother” from the area within which they are located. In Boise County the Feds are paying for a total outsider and placing all liability on Boise CITY. No doubt about it, badges are for sale.

By: Frankenstein Government

Frankenstein Government — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 06:08:15 +0000

I can’t get too excited about this. Emergency services have been providing mutual aid to outlying departments for years.

This via a grant. The Feds are professionals when it comes to wasting money. This is small potatoes. The net effect of it will be a few extra speeding tickets.

Big whoop.