First, thank you for your years of law enforcement service.

Why do the police lights, particularly on the rear of the vehicles, have to be so bright at night when making traffic stops, blocking lanes (like at BSU games), etc? Highway traffic signs dim at night (usually) so why can’t police car lights dim at night? Do we really need all those really bright flashing lights at night? I can understand bright flashing lights in daylight, but at night?

Maybe this is a light bar manufacturer problem. And I get the whole thing about officer safety. I worked for a law enforcement organization for two years as a civilian. I’d suggest the current level of brightness actually impairs officer safety because it makes it so difficult to see around and near the police vehicle at night.

It appears Boise uses a type of traffic advisor light bar in the rear window but, unlike the State Police, it’s not used as a directional indicator – only as a wig wag with red and blue lights thrown in for good measure.

How about reconfiguring those lights to all yellow and using them to indicate which direction traffic should go? And dim them down at night, along with the light bars. For folks with visual impairments, drivers and non – drivers, the intensity of the light is a killer.

And can we at least have some type of department wide general guideline about what type of flashing configuration is used in what circumstances? Right now, based on observations Saturday night (12/6), it doesn’t seem like there is at least a general guideline.

Thank you.

It seems ironic to me he complains of others lack of education.

A high profile case in Minnesota highlighted the commonplace abuse of police computer files when a retired officer did a look-back and discovered hundreds of intrusions… some of which had romantic motives. 1) What is the law in Idaho on accessing an individual’s file? 2) Does BPD have rules and/or an audit system to catch/prevent such illegal intrusions? 3) How does an individual get a record of who/when/why their file has been accessed? 4) Are off duty BPD officers who work for private/corporate security allowed to access police/state file systems while performing non-BPD security duties? 5) Does BPD share information with any private/corporate/retail security firms? One last unrelated question: Any chance of using your license plate reading cameras to identify uninsured cars?

EDITOR NOTE–Zippo, you have 6 questions here and a bunch more previously on this thread. Don’t expect answers as we have a limited space (and reader attention span) and the chief has limited time to go through all the Qs as well. Everyone: try to ask one or two good questions at a time.

So you are saying Boise Police took the time and resources to submit their application and then CISCO selected and PAID for Boise Police (paid for one) to go.

” net expense to taxpayers was zero”
Sounds a lot like “the MRAP were free”.
“Nothing is free” Chief.

In 2013, you went with a BPD Captain.
I suppose, others went with you this year. Did they donate their per diem as well?

CISCO, is a vendor of BPD and Ada County Sheriff, right?
And in 2013 you, a captain, and Sheriff Raney went to Orlando to “accept the award”… Sheriff Raney even got in on the photo op, even though it was a BPD award.

Why does it sound even worse now, after you answered?

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/collaboration-endpoints/telepresence-precisionhd-cameras/ada_county_sheriffs_office.pdf

I think it would be VERY appropriate for our police to LEAD BY EXAMPLE in such things as:
– following speed limits
– reducing our impact on the environment and saving fuel $ (thinking of cop cars that seem to be running 24/7, even if the cop isn’t in the car)
– fiddling with electronic gizmos while rolling down the road (scares me to death, since I ride a bicycle and feel particularly vulnerable to inattentive drivers!)

I’m surprised that nobody has yet asked…
WHICH DONUT SHOP IS BOISE’S FINEST??
Ha! (I’d give the nod to Country Donuts, but the cops are the true experts.)

It sounded better than “Protect. Serve. Butt-taser.

Lead, as in leadership? ha!