Canyon
Boise Copper On Wrong Side Of Bars
September 3, 2018 
A 16-year veteran detective of the Boise police department found himself on the wrong side of the bars in Canyon County August 23rd when he was arrested and charged with DUI (driving under the influence) in Wilder.
It looks like Jim Adams, 47, was involved in some sort of incident that prompted a “call for service” to the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office. We tried to find his mugshot on the Canyon jail website, but it didn’t show up. We talked to others who also were unable to find it, despite other DUI suspects showing up on the site.
With the possible exception of Canyon County failing to post the mugshot of Adams, it looks to us like the incident is being handled in a proper professional manner. We await an explanation from the Canyon sheriff. The mugshot of Adams was posted on the IDAHO PRESS website at 4:44pm Tuesday, so discussion regarding the photo is now moot.
Adams was booked into the Canyon County Jail on a misdemeanor charge of DUI and released. Adams immediately contacted his chain of command at BPD. He was immediately suspended with pay pending further internal investigation and the results of his Canyon County Court proceedings.
A Canyon County Sheriff’s deputy arrested Adams, after responding to the call for service at 10:32 p.m. on 8/23/18 near Boehner Road and Fargo Road in Wilder. Adams was off-duty and driving a personally owned vehicle when he was contacted by the CCSO deputy.
Historically the Boise PD has not fired officers for DUI offenses on the advice of legal counsel. Many professional delivery services, trucking firms, and airlines immediately terminate employees convicted of DUI for insurance reasons. After all you wouldn’t want a pilot at the controls if he had a judgement problem like drinking too much. Same is true for an armed officer.
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Comments & Discussion
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Sep 3, 2018, 2:20 pm
Interesting…. if the procedure is to post a mugshot photo on the website, why was his missing??? Police covering for police? Did they say if there was any body video? Wonder how a cop reacts to being arrested?
Sep 3, 2018, 3:05 pm
Gee, Dave. Cops claim they can safely do lots of things that we mere mortals can’t safely do (motorcycles side by side in a lane, checking computer while driving, for example). Maybe they are safe when loaded too. Special training, you know.
Sep 3, 2018, 3:55 pm
Time and again we see similar stories throughout the nation. We supposedly vet potential officer from conduct that would lead to this sort of activity. I say the process is and always has been flawed.
SPINS, LIES, DISTORTIONS, COVERUPS, are the new norm from any government agency not just he police. No such thing as transparency and no publishing his photo won’t harm his career. It, would however, allow for better accountability.
Interesting note on the firing for DUI of a police officer vs. trucker. As I understand the Union and City Attorney may not want this ugly matter, but the fact remains that the Police, The Union, and even the City Attorney (County Prosecutors as well)have all supported the termination requirements of truckers (because they are dangerous) and not just the because the insurance companies demand the termination.
Sep 3, 2018, 10:18 pm
Special rules for special people. Many more years of erosion remain on this topic before we get back to the all men are created equal bit. As much as I hate the ACLU we need to force issues like this.
However, I must say it was not that long ago they would not have issued a ticket and given a ride home instead. I know of many cases in the past where a drunken officer caused a collision and they blamed the person he hit. Just last year a big cover up came forth thanks to whistle blower. So progress has been made with more work ahead.
As for the comments about character and all that jazz. Lay off it. The job sucks and changes people quite a bit. Just ask the police ex-wives club. I’m thinking a police career should only last about eight years before transfer to something not involving contact with so many lowlife idiots each day.
Lastly, there are huge numbers of professional drivers and pilots with DUI background so got to pop that balloon editor. There are foreign nationals driving truck all across America with bare minimum American background check because of NAFTA. Stimulants are the trucker thing.
Sep 3, 2018, 11:23 pm
Having done the job, i’m usually the first to trash our current warrior SWAT Team Drug War jack-booted Civial Asset Forfieture thugs.
But… If the Boise Gaurdian gets a DUI, I’d hope this website isn’t shut down. I can see a trucker getting the axe because all they have to do is drive, and not really interact with others in any meaningful way, so, totally unlike a cop, they could be drunk or high on the job and it might not be noticed until they crash. Being drunk or high while doing the job of a cop would be nearly impossible. Way too much going on at once, too many public interactions, and too many high speed driving situations. Being the adult while others are screaming and threatening each other with weapons isn’t viewed as a good time to be impaired yourself. However, having to do the miserable, high stress and immoral (see Drug War) job of a cop might reasonably drive one to excessive drinking occasionally.
Putting a cops picture up for all to see might be appropriate after a conviction, but with the VERY HIGH chance of some scumbag recognizing him and going after him or his family, it might be best left private for now.
Cops generally act very civil when arrested because they fully understand that things are going to get ugly fast if they resist arrest, unlike a lot of not too bright bad guys.
EDITOR NOTE–Our mugshot problem is POLICY. Do you forego the damning photo for U.S. Senators, judges, rich businessmen, expectant mothers? Where does it stop?
Sep 4, 2018, 6:18 am
If I received a DUI then my work would do… nothing. I drive and travel for work. I deal with important issues where a misjudgment can cause a lot of damage. I’m often armed outside of work (hunting, etc).
A pilot slipping up can cause 300 deaths. Not so for pretty much any other job – including police.
As for not posting a mug shot, there are a variety of reasons and ways that everyone can get that. Do some investigative work. One of them is fear of safety, one of many factors which officers face because of how many people blame their own problems on officers today.
Writers are so desperate to prove that “the pen is mightier than the sword” that they look for any way to slander our peace keepers. Try looking at the positive factors instead – or that the death rate has climbed so fast after Bieter forced out the last chief and BPD no longer enforces traffic laws.
EDITOR NOTE–Last chief, Mike Masterson, was not “forced out.” He actually was the longest serving chief in the department’s history.
Sep 4, 2018, 10:01 am
More cops in the news.
“”After all you wouldn’t want a pilot at the controls if he had a judgement problem like drinking too much. Same is true for an armed officer.””
Bad Judgement is illegal now?
And yet Colin Kaepernick gets so much heat for calling attention to those cops with REALLY bad judgement.
Police brutality– that is about the maximum ‘bad judgement’. And all it takes is ‘I was scared’ for a cop to get away with murder w/bad judgement.
The Jack Yantis story comes to mind; lots examples, though, of cops doing things much worse than drinking too much in Wilder, Idaho.
Sep 4, 2018, 10:36 am
The mugshots are generally online for those in custody. The officer was probably released pretty quickly on bail so it may never have gotten to the point where the mugshot would have been online.
Sep 4, 2018, 12:26 pm
Absolutely nobody should have their mugshot posted or assets seized until after conviction. Posting a mugshot and publicly announcing arrests is in fact smearing someone before their day in court. You almost never hear the cops announce the people not convicted. TV stations never do a story on those people dragged through the social mud, financially drained, and then freed by the court. So I agree editor, the policy needs to change. Policing as currently applied is a for profit business model and the harvesting begins at the point of arrest.
I bet most people don’t realize the police have arrested >30% of the people in Ada County at some point in time in their life. Our prisons are jammed full of harmless people who could be holding a job so the court is broken too, but that’s a whole different thread.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_States
EDITOR NOTE–Whatever the system, policy, procedure–it should be applied equally. For the most part, grand jury indictments are “secret” and they are often used in sex offender cases for the very reasons you cite.
Sep 4, 2018, 3:10 pm
Special.. you are exactly right. It’s horrible to take a picture of a person (who may or may not be guilty) on what may be the worst day of their lives and post it so that office workers can look and laugh on their lunch hour. And the media picks them up for broadcast. With NEVER a follow up if found innocent. And seldom if found guilty. The Guardian is right that the policy should be enforced equally. Just stop publishing the pics.
EDITOR NOTE–The mug shot issue is a direct result of both the public records law and the advent of electronic media. ALL jails in Idaho (and probably USA) are required to maintain a “docket” listing all prisoners and their charges. This is a GOOD thing as it allows us to insure the REAL “John Doe” is in jail and it prevents people from being jailed without due process. Mugshots have become a part of the public record. In the past it took weeks to fill a roll of film, process it and make prints. Today, it is instant.
Sep 4, 2018, 9:51 pm
Having worked as a police dispatcher for 10 years I can say I have seen a fair share of officers with alcohol abuse issues. Police departments really need to do a better job of helping officers cope with the stress of the job. Studies have put officers who are alcoholics between 15 and 25%. That number goes higher the longer they have been on the force. Some reaching 35%. I am in no way justifying officers drinking and driving. They know it’s wrong. I have seen on numerous occasions officers coming to work severely hungover but administrators failed to address the issue. It’s no secret that most officers drink and some to excess after work. It’s my opinion though that police departments fail to monitor the mental health of their officers and give them the tools they desperately need to deal with the job that has become more stressful each year.
Sep 5, 2018, 7:35 am
Knowing Idaho’s good old boy’s club, he will get a slap on the wrist and this will be swept under the rug.
Idaho has some of the most corrupted and evil cops, judges and lawyers in the nation. And Canyon County is the epicenter of all that
Sep 5, 2018, 3:21 pm
Ironic that one of the BPD’s latest Facebook posts is regarding Sober Driving [ https://www.facebook.com/BoisePoliceDepartment/photos/a.10150413833728143/10156059745788143/?type=3&theater ].
EDITOR NOTE–“Do as I say, not as I do…..”
Sep 8, 2018, 8:59 am
Seriously, are we even suprised any more when a cop gets arrested, and nothing happens?
This state has such an addiction to the corruption that there is seriously no chance for justice when these thugs get their greedy little claws into our lives.
They are a danger to society. More so than anything else. It is far more statistically probable that an American citizen will have their life destroyed by the American Judicial system, than by foreign terrorism.
And the saga continues…
https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/crime/former-california-deputy-caught-in-corruption-scandal-arrested-in-idaho/277-592094527
Sep 10, 2018, 9:20 am
I agree with LD.
Too many cops are indeed a danger to society and justice. i.e. recently the female cop killing her neighbor when she mistakenly entered his apartment instead of hers.
BPD has a noted case of SWAT entering the wrong house…
And the Matthew Jones case.
I am more concerned about an encounter with cops than I am with any other segment of our community.
A Boise library or fire station expense pales in comparison to your mentally-ill child, or grandchild, being killed by police.