City Government
Coppers, Bumper Cars, And $$$
January 31, 2017 
After Idaho State troopers had four cars crashed in one day during the nasty snow days, the GUARDIAN thought it might be interesting to find out just how many cop cars got whacked as a result of bad roads–either while parked or being driven.
Perhaps more interesting than the numbers was the back story of gathering the info and the responses to the question which was “how many crashes and how many cars in your fleet.” We contacted Idaho State Police, Boise PD, Ada County Sheriff, and Meridian PD.
ISP got back to us within the hour and reported 9 wrecked cars out of a a state wide fleet of 166.
Meridian PD didn’t have any crashes, but went to great lengths to provide details of a vehicle that had minor undercarriage damage. Also minor damage to a patrol car push bumper used to help a stranded motorist. They spent $85 to diagnose suspected traction control issue,but nothing was amiss.
Ada County Sheriff reported two, “minor low speed crashes. The damage was cosmetic in both, which resulted in minimal repair costs.”
Boise PD suffered four vehicles incrashes resulting in two “non-driveable” vehicles. Their fleet is generally considered 134 patrol vehicles along with a total of about 150 marked and unmarked “take home cars.”
We tried to get some data from the U.S. Postal Service, but the fleet staff refused to provide any information saying we would have to contact “some sort of regional authority.”
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Feb 1, 2017, 6:43 am
Interesting that BPD has almost as many cars as ISP does statewide.. and that’s not counting the 150 take-home cars. And they still can’t enforce traffic laws. Also, there was a story on a BPD car that slid down a hill. A fireman pulled someone out of the way. I am curious if that officer got cited for failure to control his vehicle.
EDITOR NOTE–The downhill incident was the result of the force of gravity, not the police force.
Feb 1, 2017, 9:53 am
A good follow-up story would be to determine if BPD Officer Richard Burch was ever charged in his CRASH and is he still on patrol after his trump-like story of mechanical failure instead of being honest. Dishonest cops!
What was the HR resolution of that lie?http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/community/boise/article49171080.html
As to erico49’s point, I would bet a year’s supply of donuts, Boise has more police vehicles than any other comparable city (population & geography). Put Boise Fire in the same bet. Just guessing with alternative facts: the fact is, they have a lot!
Feb 2, 2017, 6:37 am
Sorry, Editor. I thought that the officer was in the car when it slid.