We are constantly advised to utilize the services of peer accredited providers be they technicians, surgeons, or plumbers.

Yet we don’t demand the same from those that hold our liberty and even our lives in their hands.

Why is that?

And while the BPD has made strides, and is home to a great many fine professionals, it still shields rogue officers from scrutiny behind the guise of “Personnel Matters”.

For more information on law enforcement accreditation, visit the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies @ [ http://www.calea.org ]

– – –

P.S. For those that incorrectly believe the POST Academy in Meridian bestows accreditation, it’s important to know that the POST Academy is itself unaccredited.

Does anyone know of any financial accounting of this episode?

EDITOR NOTE–It gets worse. Almost without exception the mayor, staffers, and councilors go to Sun Valley to be lobbied by the private, commercial special interest business group CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
to discuss how to improve BOISE. No logic at all relaxing and spending tax money at Sun Valley to learn how to sell hotel rooms in Boise!

In a high tech and high risk environment it really sucks when some Senator or Mayor or bean counter chooses the equipment. There is an enormous amount of very expensive equipment which remains turned off because it’s too much trouble to use it. I want my police officers to have as easy a time as possible with all the equipment they are dragging around. They have a difficult job. Sometimes they’ve got less than a second to make lethal decisions… I don’t want them concerned about the poor interface of all the various different gizmos and multi-page bureaucratic rules attached to each.

So, what I’m harping about here on this blog is the ridiculous cost and noncompetitive process of the entire police equipment marketplace. It needs intervention. The only thing cops get at reasonable prices are the cars… and that’s only because cops are not the sole purchaser of cars. So to fix this problem, let the police officers and leadership quietly pick the equipment that fits best for the department, then have professional procurement people hammer the prices down to something reasonable by playing the manufactures against each other. A nationwide network of procurement people could also link orders for bulk discounts.

I think the Boise department is pretty good, but Mayor, and Chiefs, it could go either way as the city grows. How about you make Boise famous for the best police department in the land also?

In terms of the $1.5 million data storage, that supports 5 years of storage for 250 cameras. Some basic math = $1,200/camera/year for storage. If you look at a competitors’ pricing for Evidence.com, which provides top level pricing for $948/camera/year, which would have been a savings of $63,000 savings per year. And, that is for the top of the line service. If you look at the pricing, the “Pro” service would have saved even more: http://www.axon.io/pricing

I agree about the gold-plating of these gov’t contracts. The camera and secure data pkg should be put out to bid, especially inviting local techies, who could easily design and build an iron-clad custom system for a fraction of the price which could then be marketed nationally if not internationally. This is NOT rocket science!

The mayor says he’s concerned. He sent a e-mail about ethics to everyone on the city payroll. Does this mean he’s go to do something about the three vehicles for every employee policy? Mayor you got enough extra city vehicles to pay for a few feet of light-rail.

The one thing noticeably absent from all of this talk- is the absolutely antiquated, worst bid laws in the United States. Idaho law allows all sorts of rigging and sole sourcing- How do I know this?

I watched it first hand for nearly 25 years. I’ve seen everything from sole sourcing giant contracts (million plus) or obtaining financing for projects and steering the financing to friends in the investment world.

I don’t fault the greed and corruption inherent in the system per se- so much as the lawmakers in this state that could address this issue but never do.