Comments on: Chief Explains SWAT Class For BSU Coaches

By: Jake

Jake — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 20:43:49 +0000

Rick,
I hope that day never happens. Unfortunately people do make mistakes and it is possible it may. I highly doubt it as I try my best to avoid anything that would bring police to my door, but I understand they are human and make mistakes like many of the commentors on this site. The starbucks gal screws up my drink sometimes but I don’t hate all of them.

By: Easterner

Easterner — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 15:40:26 +0000

Jake, here is some reading for you:

Ada Metro SWAT has 30 members. They are officers from the Meridian and Garden City Police Departments, the Ada County Sheriff’s Office, and Ada County Paramedics.

And here’s a memory test for you:http://www.ktvb.com/story/news/local/2014/07/02/11970705/

So does Boise need it’s own SWAT? Does Caldwell? How about if Cascade Police Department gets 2 MRAPs and a helo for next time?

I say instead it should be one well trained team supported and organized at the state level for a quick response. Cost-effective. Trained for a reasonable reaction to deescalate the situation.

Texas has the idea, although they also have local militarized police too.
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/TexasRangers/specialUnits.htm

By: Chief Mike Masterson

Chief Mike Masterson — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 13:37:09 +0000

good morning zippo and interestd others, last week i was off so i didnt have the resource material available to me for an exact quote on drug testing. just returned to work this morning and retrieved a copy. Under “drug free workplace” the city and union “agree to be bound by federal testing standards as well as agree that testing will also include steroids and abuse of prescription drugs.

EDITOR NOTE–Chief, thanks for the follow up.

By: rick

rick — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 02:17:13 +0000

Jake… you are willing to take your chances with one or two squared cops… until they are banging on your door and threatening you and yours…

By: Jake

Jake — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 13:45:29 +0000

sometimes I read these posts and just laugh. Easterner have you ever taken any sort of math class?? If there was one SWAT team for the entire state, who would pay to train them? Would they all train individually and never see each other until an activation? Talk about an episode of keystone cops. How much does a plane cost to just have on standby? Would you fly 10 or so guys commercial last minute and pay the exorbitant rates? Who would cover the tickets and all the checked luggage? Who is going to pay the overtime for the patrol guys sitting on the house waiting for SWAT to show up? What county will write the search warrant to get into the house? These are some crucial facts you apparently don’t seem to think much about. I know where I am from the officers were members of the department and trained as part of their duty day on a quarterly style basis. This meant no overtime. The only money they paid out was for a few hours of an activation. Seems substantially cheaper to me….I personally would rather take my chances with one or two not so squared officers out of a couple thousand then having this fine city turn into the hood where you should be scared. That’s the definition of the citizenry feeling threatened.

By: Interested Citizen

Interested Citizen — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 11:43:38 +0000

Chief Masterson:

I am deeply disturbed by your lack of accountability to those who write your paycheck regarding the extensive and lengthy Federal investigation. You have NOT been forthcoming!!!!!!!

And, no testing for STEROIDS??????

What am I missing here?

By: Zippo

Zippo — Fri, 22 Aug 2014 02:49:06 +0000

Chief, I’ll be sorry to see you go… you’ve done good things here. More work to be done, and I’m concerned the next guy will not continue on the right path.

We are enjoying the fruits of generations past… and of our geographic location/isolation. Boise has a fairly good police force as far as we know… but it also does not get the kinda stress test which the big-crime city forces do. (Which makes me say it’s freaky the way you’ve taken the feds lead about “the enemy within” … really a wrong turn to make your random local folk the bad guys by default… that’s just USSA thinking from The Homeland Paranoia Department. Please park the big truck… the Army has dozens of them at the airport should a real need arise.)

Still, I’m very impressed with how you make the effort to bust simple crimes like shoplifting rings and small time dealers… The word is out in Cali… if you wanna be a criminal, avoid Ada/Boise.

By: Easterner

Easterner — Fri, 22 Aug 2014 01:13:54 +0000

Holy Batman!
I thought Zippo was just running off on some tangent with the steroids and performance drugs.

I appreciate the Chief’s interaction here, but dang!

“as far as I know”

Chief, with all due respect to your title, maybe you should know.
And obviously the testing doesn’t include such drugs, otherwise you would be telling your guys (and ‘girls’) “dont be juicin” – which you should be doing anyway, whether it’s specifically prohibited or not.

It should be YOUR policy and not waiting until the city council decides to do something. You deferring readers to the council means you don’t care one way or another.

I’m sure The Guardian is going to put in a time-out, but dannnngggg

From Police Chief Magazine:
Symptoms Associated with Use or Abuse:

Mania or hypomania (high energy levels associated with increased self-confidence, increased activity, IMPAIRED JUDGEMENT, and RECKLESS behavior)

Psychosis—loss of touch with REALITY (for example, paranoia or delusions of grandeur; infrequent)

Personality changes

http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=1512&issue_id=62008

By: Chief mike Masterson

Chief mike Masterson — Fri, 22 Aug 2014 00:15:42 +0000

Zippo, city policy requires the testing of police, fire and safety senstive positions for the following: alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, opiates, and phencyclidine (pcp)

As far as I know they do not cover steroids or growth hormones. As it is city policy I would suggest you send recommendations for change to the mayor or council members.

By: Blaskowitz

Blaskowitz — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 19:14:59 +0000

….and what happens if they test positive for drugs and alcohol?…..are they automatically terminated?

EDITOR NOTE–Give it a rest. He made a fair and honest response. Quit trying to back him into a corner.