Anyways as much as I’ve disliked police throughout my life I’ve learned to like them. I really don’t have exact knowledge to how well this man did, a lot of cops I’ve met are real jerks, and I’m sure hes made a poor choice here or there but it happens to us all. Also appointments are not such a horrible thing, in a police chieff election 99% of voters will be under/misinformed, or they will only be informed with half of the story. So for something like police chief how can it be a bad thing for people inside the system that are informed. As it was stated in another article police chief is not a political job it should not be decided be people blindly voting red or blue.

One last thing, I have my fair share of harassment anecdotes and run-ins with entitled, cold, better than you cops but it is a hard job. They have to deal with violent people, everyone hates them, they are constantly lied to and they occasionally put their lives on the line. It’s no wonder they resent civilians.

For example – how much time does the Sherriff actually spend in the office? How much does he pay is public relations staff to make him look good? Who is he setting up to take his place in two years and why? Why does the Sherriff use purchasing practices for his office OUTSIDE normal channels? When was the last time there was any outside audit or review of the operations of the department? Would he even allow it? Who checks to see what he tells the county commission is correct? Who cares if it is not? What is his travel budget and how much has he traveled and spent in the last two years? See…no oversight.

At least the Chief as a City Council to provide oversight – the Sherriff – ZIP.

There are so many other unanswered, yet very relevant, questions however. Perhaps once free of City Hall??

Considering one of the Chief candidates is Deputy Chief and “helped form the Downtown BPD Unit” — based on other people’s stories, people I know, and personally witnessing the BPD in downtown– that candidate would be the least favorable selection.

from 33.5 million in 2005 to 49.3 million in 2015 is about a 4% annual increase over that time.

let’s pick a random property in Boise for that similar time period… from a Google search an address pops up:

This random Boise home assessed value was $118,600 in 2005 and in 2014 the assessed value is $150,800. That’s about a 3% annual increase over that time. (let’s ignore the HUGE increase this property incurred for 2013 to 2014).

BPD 4% increase
Home value 3% increase.
Is that a 1% difference or a 33% more, difference?

Obviously there was huge fluctuation in housing values (economy) from 2005 to 2011. Did the BPD budget experience the same?

But for simplification, the BPD budget increased 4% in those 10 years.
For the readers, what did your personal budget do during that time? and your property values?

Everything.

Because the Sheriff is ELECTED by the people, and answers directly to the people.

The Chief of Police is APPOINTED by a City Council of questionable intelligence and motive, and answers only to that City Council (often in exclusionary, “Executive Sessions”).

P.S. I’ve not seen anyone ask these candidates if they will – as their predecessors have – continue to hide behind “Personnel Matters” and “The Police Union” and harbor unprofessional / criminal members of the BPD who repeatedly violate departmental policies ( http://police.cityofboise.org/media/469928/september-2013-bpd-policy-manual-public-copy.pdf ) and/or break the law (i.e. DUI).