City Government
Bourgeau Responds To 7/17 Critics
July 29, 2023 
GUEST OPINION BY
GUY BOURGEAU
Ben— I’m not quite sure how to respond to that comment. Obviously one best left alone.
For the defense, unions are beneficial for police departments. I can’t disagree that what you say isn’t true in some cases, but not here. We are able to set hiring standards and offer competitive wages to attract the best and brightest in a highly challenging market. We do not protect bad cops, we protect the process so that these cases are done right and we don’t find ourselves in a position where we have to protect a bad egg because an overzealous administrator violated case law. I’ve know the editor for 20 years, he can vouch for my integrity and honesty. You may find this hard to believe but given the past few years, not a lot of interest in joining a field that is often exposed to venom and mistrust.
Douglas— yes the wages are better than they once were because it is hard to recruit. A dozen officers were attacked the other night by a male with a high powered semi automatic rifle and stood their ground to keep people safe. What’s the number you think is appropriate for those duties that are becoming all too frequent and more dangerous? We are 30 officers short because the profession has been tasked with everything no one else wants to do and it has become incredibly challenging. We want experience that applies to us. Nothing against a small agency officer but they just might not adapt to a mid sized city agency.
Polar bear— we have no beef with anything other than corruption in the mayors office. If you’re ok with that then I pretty much know how you’re going to vote. We all live with those choices.
Warren— attacking someone based on their writing style pretty much indicates something more of a personal attack than one based on facts which gives me insight into you. Come back with some facts to support an argument. This isn’t about me, I speak on behalf of the officers who expect me to be their voice. This is about transparency in government, something you’re overlooking based on some fabricated perception that simply isn’t there. Despite these shortcomings in your post, and other comments you’ve made, we will always be happy to serve.
UPDATE 8/23/2023–
Our contract is a public document as are our negotiations. I have no hidden agenda when it comes to policing. Unions can be bad in many cases. I’m proud of the work our union has done over the years to make this an attractive career which becomes more and more difficult every year. We hope to make it attractive enough to recruit the best candidates around whether from Idaho, California or Arizona. I have no intention in getting into a back and forth with anyone but love to open an intelligent dialogue about policing in 2023. I will likely retire in the near future and have nothing to lose or gain by being deceitful. Hopefully we can discuss the future as well as the present.
BPD CONTRACT:
FullCLAandbulletpoints202220242
EDITOR NOTE–The GUARDIAN will be happy to post opinions and comments from al sides of issues discussed here.
To insure more advertising-free Boise Guardian news, please consider financial support.
Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Jul 31, 2023, 4:19 pm
Look Mate, the BPD have murdered quite a few people, because those cops were cowards.
I didn’t kill any cops when they had their guns pointed at me, after I called them to respond to a battery I was a victim of.
But just recently, a guy was shot IN THE BACK, but his murderer will go unpunished and why might you ask. Simple, police unions. They protect dirty cops, always.
Also, the Ombudsman, who was put into place to reign in the police misconduct and violence, but that office is useless. I know, as I wanted to file a complaint about a BPD copper who committed perjury while trying to see me convicted for a crime I did NOT commit.
Guy, I wouldn’t trust you or your ilk for a single Gdamn thing.
Y’all a bunch of bigots and power hungry bruits.
I have nothing but contempt for the whole lot of you.
Jul 31, 2023, 5:17 pm
Ben is not even the mayor.
Rule #1. Don’t call the cops.
Rule #2. Don’t talk to cops.
Rule #3. Don’t trust the cops.
Says the lawyers. Proof is online in thousands of videos of documentation.
Jul 31, 2023, 6:07 pm
Unions have a place in the workplace. But they protect their own (immediately filing restraining orders, etc.) when an officer behaves badly. Even before the facts are known.
Calling a Mayor’s office ‘corrupt’ is bad form. State details. Facts. Not conjecture and Trump-ish blather.
The writer claims their union believes in training and professionalism: look at the recent report on academy graduates. And the City dropping any academic credits needed to apply to the force!
Finally, the ‘beards and tats’ appearance of police officers only reinforces the public’s notion that many officers are thugs.
Aug 2, 2023, 9:25 am
Are unions bad? Depends on who you ask. If you ask a Boise Police officer (Sergeant and below), the answer would be NO. The union has fought hard for good pay, benefits and “protection” for its members. So much so, there is no benefit to go above Sergeant rank. That is why they have to recruit from outside for Lieutenant and above positions. Recruiting from outside has proven to bring poor leadership and bad culture to Boise. While I don’t think anybody should have special “protection” in a normal working environment, the City of Boise is not “normal”. The Union helped create an environment where there is a dis-incentive for good leaders to go beyond Sergeant both in pay and “protection”. The best way to fix this problem is to elect new leadership at City Hall that can/will work effectively with the Police and the Union. We need to stop recruiting our police leaders from trash cities in Washington, Oregon and California.
Aug 2, 2023, 2:44 pm
“stop recruiting our police leaders from trash cities in Washington, Oregon and California.”
So you are saying recruit the transfer officers from California trash cities, and then change the union to allow those same folks from trash cities to move up in the ranks?
hilarious reasoning.
“The Union helped create an environment where there is a dis-incentive”
Good to know the Union is counter-productive, expecting TVoR actually knows anything of reality.
And somehow the city council is going to change the Union? Nonsense!
Aug 19, 2023, 7:13 am
Thanks for the response, Guy. I challenge you to post a copy of the the current Boise police union contract here and let the community take a look. I suspect the due process provisions provided in the contract far exceed those extended to most employees in the private sector. The scary part is those provisions protect people who can: seize property, suspend someones liberty; and, extinguish life.