Comments on the post, POLICE PROWLERS GUZZLE GAS prompted a flurry of defenses for the idle arguments.

Fewer Idle Cop Cars

Top Cop Mike Masterson was not happy to hear cars were parked and left running with the doors locked–all it takes is a whack on the window for access to guns, computers, radios, and the car itself.

Fast forward a year later and the city has hired a “Fleet Services Manager” in the person of Craig Croner whose job it is to save gas, negotiate vehicle purchases, and keep every car and truck in the city running safely.

Croner assembled a committee of “users” from all the city departments and came up with a proposed energy and fuel policy with regard to idling vehicles. He says the “break even point” is a mere 30 seconds. Longer than that and it is better to turn off the engine. It seems like a rational policy to us.

Take a look for yourself.

Anti Idling Policy:

I. INTRODUCTION
Vehicle idling gets zero miles per gallon; unnecessary idling wastes fuel and pollutes. Running an engine at low speed (idling) also causes additional wear on internal parts compared to driving at regular speeds. The break-even point for shutting off and restarting gasoline engines or leaving it to idle is 30 seconds – from the point of view of both emissions and fuel consumption. This restriction does not apply to congested traffic, city driving or traffic controls.

Air quality is a critical issue in our area. One of the leading sources of air pollutants of concern is from vehicle tailpipe exhaust. The City of Boise needs to be a leader in reducing sources of these air pollutants. Additionally, the rising cost of fuel makes it imperative that the City of Boise focus on fuel efficiency and cease vehicle idling when not warranted by the situation.

Effective immediately, unless exempted in the following section, no City vehicle or piece of equipment is to be idled in a non-emergency situation. The operator of the vehicle/equipment is to turn-off the unit and the keys are to be removed from the ignition.

II. EXEMPTIONS
The following situations will allow idling, as needed:
A. Emergency vehicles at scenes where lights, Power Take Offs, and/or other accessories are needed to accomplish the mission;
B. Police vehicles working traffic enforcement details;
C. Department of Public Works, Department of Parks and Recreation and Boise Airport vehicles at job sites requiring the use of emergency lights, Power Take Offs, and/or other accessories to accomplish their assignment. Planning and Development, PDS Inspector – 2005 or older and non-hybrid vehicles only, while performing inspections.
D. Inclement weather situations and the supervisor authorizes the use of the vehicle/equipment heater-defroster for the work crew’s comfort according to the guidelines listed below;

1. If the outside temperature is: Above 32 degrees F: 5 minute maximum
2. Between -10 and 32 degrees F; 15 minute maximum
3. Below -10 degrees F: as necessary

NOTE: Operators of vehicle/equipment and supervisors will be judicious in the idling of units at emergency scenes and job sites. If not all the units at the scene/site need to be idling, those units must be turned-off and the keys removed from the ignition. Each vehicle/equipment operator will be responsible for the idling operation of their unit and will have the unit keys in their possession to ensure that crewmembers do not arbitrarily violate the policy without the operator’s knowledge.

Supervisors in each department/division will be responsible for the adherence and enforcement of the idling policy. Violations of the policy will be documented as to the vehicle/equipment operator, vehicle class code, location, date and time, weather conditions, and circumstances of the violation.

The vehicle/equipment operator will be informed of the violation by the supervisor at the time of the infraction.

Department Heads will be responsible to ensure this standard of conduct in the use of City vehicles and equipment. Employees have the responsibility to abide by this regulation, violation of which can subject them to progressive disciplinary action.

Instead of involving the citizens who consume the services and pay the bills, both the BPD and Team Dave have been dancing around trying to cut land deals, do studies, assessments, plans, and they haven’t gotten their act together any better than the past administration. This should have been done years ago.

The track record of this Chief and City Administration hasn’t been much better than the last one. Nearly six years ago the city obtained about five acres at 25th and Fairview from CCDC–and paid a realtor a commission on the deal which is absurd. It was the “ideal location” for a police headquarters.

A few months later they bought eight acres at the old Larry Barnes car lot at 2900 Fairview–another “ideal spot.” Then they ran afoul of the law when the former councilors voted to go around the citizens on the financing. Judge Cheri Copsey said the city had to let the people vote on long term bond debt in 2003.

Mayor Terteling-Payne got the council to authorize even more money for a realtor to make offers on the old K-Mart property at Shoreline and Americana and sell the other two “ideal locations.” That deal never happened either.

More than three years later the city is STILL trying to subvert the will of the people and has not scheduled an election. Instead, they are overtaxing the citizens each year and creating a $10 million “slush fund” which is “earmarked” for police facilities, but there is no legal obligation to spend the cash for BPD buildings. They call it “savings”, but it is truly an attempt to spend without citizen permission–as a bond election would do.

We are working on the third police chief now and he has to be frustrated as well. He has voiced a desire to have several smaller police stations (precincts) located throughout the city while maintaining the HQ at Barrister with the Sheriff, but we don’t know much else about his ideas.

The GUARDIAN says it is time to make a decision PERIOD. The cops are crowded. They are also in rented space at several locations which in itself is inefficient. The councilors keep growing the city–both in residents and area– and the chief can’t do much until he gets some direction from the council. Seems they all have different views on what to do with their vast real estate speculation holdings.

This lack of progress in a basic city service points out the need for a POLICE COMMISSION of citizens who can advise the chief and the council on what is needed AND what the citizens are willing to fund.

Give us a proposal and we citizens will gladly tell you if we want to fund it at specific locations or areas. JUST DO IT!

NOTE TO COPS AND CITY HALL–Watch what just a handful of GUARDIAN readers can offer up in the way of sound proposals in the next few days.

Closer examination showed a shoulder patch shaped like the state of Louisiana!

What the heck is a Louisiana copper doing at Bronco Stadium toting a pistol? Like Boise cops, we have to assume it was loaded. What legal authority would he have to shoot Bronco fans, intruders, or even nut cases willing to attempt to do harm to any one of 45 big ugly football players?

The GUARDIAN admittedly hasn’t been on the sidelines in many years, but we have never seen visiting teams bring along their own cops packing heat to out of state games. Is this common and who allows it to happen?

Does BSU not provide adequate security? Does BSU take pistol packing police on their away games?

Just curious.

He wanted to allow people to carry weapons concealed in vehicles without a permit, but cops and sheriffs raised a ruckus and the media got to picking on him, so the bill was pulled, claiming there was too much disinformation going around.

The current law is archaic to say the least. It refers to “logging camps and express officers” and allows “officials” of just about any government agency to carry without a permit, but doesn’t define an official. Any ELECTED official can carry without training or a permit–irrigation districts, cemetery and library districts all have ELECTED commissioners. No requirements for training or background checks.

People with mental problems aren’t supposed to carry concealed weapons and we all know some of those types must have been elected to office. What about felons who are also “officials” or even ELECTED officials?

In one proposed version, drivers would be required to “confess” to cops if they have a gun without a permit, hence giving up 5th amendment rights to self incrimination. That ill-thought phrase is simply unconstitutional.

Bottom line: the concealed weapons law needs to be totally rewritten with proper definitions. There is too much confusion now over loaded and unloaded guns, officials, and much more.

Hate to say it, but this concealed weapons law language needs to be cleaned up by some lawyers with debate by cops, legislators, and gun nuts before it is written into law. Too much emotion and not enough clear thinking by those without a vested interest.

Seems that Sen. GERRY SWEET (R) Meridian is president of an Idaho corporation known as SHOOTERS WHOLESALE, Inc. The company is listed on web sites all over the country as holding a Federal Firearms License (FFL). That means he can facilitate interstate arms sales over the internet.

The GUARDIAN is not a player in legislative affairs, but we think it may not serve to enhance the image of the legislature or garner public confidence to have a gun dealer advocating a law that potentially would put more concealed guns in Idaho vehicles.

Idaho cops and sheriffs oppose Sweet’s bill on the basis of officer safety and the fact they can use the current law as a tool to disarm potential criminals before they commit illegal acts.

We hear the bill was quietly withdrawn Monday, but officials of the National Rifle Association (NRA) will probably be in town Wednesday to meet with lawmakers, cops, and arms dealer/legislator Sweet.

Good men who would probably file charges against anyone offering them a bribe were characterized in court testimony as “not being able to be counted on to do their jobs,” after being smitten by $5,000 hiring bonuses paid by Boise Police.

The three cops were fired after Twin Falls brass said they took sick leave following job offers from Boise with the $5,000 hiring Bonus. The cops filed suit against the city and both sides came to an out of court settlement this week.

Twin Falls Chief Jim Munn said it will be summer before his force is up to speed with new hires who will have to undergo six months of training.

The GUARDIAN appreciates the dilemma of Boise Police needing to fill its ranks, but when five grand encourages less than honorable behavior it taints the entire process. While details of the firings and settlement are “personnel actions” and not public record we suspect the trio was “using up sick leave” when they were not really sick.

Meanwhile, Boise will fill its ranks with these Twin Falls heroes who risk their lives daily so we can sleep at night (unless they have a better offer). These guys would make good “free agents” in the NFL and obviously have as much team loyalty. If we could only trade them…

The case was a tragedy of errors and ineptitude almost from the beginning.

Police responded last December to a call for help from a father unable to control his drug and alcohol influenced son.
The boy had an antique gun with bayonet in his hands at the time he was shot and killed by Boise Police officer Andrew Johnson. The Coroner’s jury ruled the death as “justifiable homicide” based on the evidence presented.

Based on the evidence made public it is hard to argue the cop was not “justified” in shooting the juvenile. The jury did the right thing. They were about the only ones who did.

Here is a losing scorecard from the GUARDIAN :

–Police should have two man cars respond at night to any disturbance calls. That way officers can watch each other’s backsides, deal with threats, and not wait for backup. There is little “team-style” training at present. Our opinion is the officer was “shocked, scared, startled, frightened” and acted out of instinct. It was a reflex action to pull his weapon and shoot.

–Acting Chief Jim Tibbs went overboard in his defense of the officer and the “show and tell” press conference the next day was inappropriate. It is inexcusable the evidence was presented to the media before it was properly analyzed and preserved. That show led to a lot of rumors and speculation among the public and has left many with little or no faith in the police.

–It has taken the coroner 11 months to hold an inquest. He involved the Ada prosecutor who had a conflict of interest since the potential defendant was a policeman represented by the prosecutor. If a prosecutor needed to be involved, it should have been someone from outside the area with no ethical conflict. If the jury had returned a finding of an alleged crime on the part of the officer, the prosecutor would have “conflicted out” of the case like he did with the county commissioners civil case over a closed meeting.

–Coroner wasn’t forthright with the media on the questions asked of potential jurors after declaring he couldn’t get a jury due to media hype. The Statesman found leading questions about ACLU and Amnesty International had been added to the “standard” jury questionnaire. He was able to get a jury on the second try with 8 of the first 10 people interviewed.

–After the first inquest attempt was canceled, Mayor Dave Bieter revealed he had conducted private discussions with the family and the coroner and had urged the coroner to forget about the entire inquest and rely on the Boise Ombudsman for a finding.

–Instead of a fact finding procedure, the prosecutor presented the jury that was finally impaneled with a prosecution of the deceased.

–The officer claimed the boy had “nicked” him with the bayonet and police produced a Kevlar vest and uniform shirt with tears in them.
However the task force investigators who examined all the evidence and produced testimony were unable to explain how two inner layers of clothing were cut, but an outer layer fleece pullover had no damage.

Next day in the courtroom they used magnifiers and claimed to have found misplaced fibers of some sort. More doubts about proficiency, credibility and integrity surfaced.

–While professing to have no prejudice about the case and promising the citizens a fair and impartial look into the shooting, police command staff put the involved officer back on normal duty. If they had concluded the officer acted properly and violated no rules or laws, it was wise and proper to return him to duty…but why go through 11 months of investigations they claimed were “impartial?”

–If a teacher is the focus of a sex investigation he is removed from contact with children–with pay–immediately. Same should be true for police involved “critical incidents.” Take them off the street until cleared for duty. We shouldn’t be subjected to police who under investigation. That is why the investigations should be completed within 30 days unless there are extenuating circumstances.

The GUARDIAN frankly doesn’t have any compelling doubts about the outcome of the case, but there was little in this fiasco that would encourage the public to have faith in the actions of the Coroner, the Prosecutor, the police commanders or the evidence technicians.

We can all hope these officials will have a big meeting and work to prevent these errors in the future. You can also figure on calls for a medical examiner system from the Legislature.

Meanwhile Ombudsman Pierce Murphy will come up with a report and we hope to see some recommendations for two man police cars at night among other things.

In the the case of the tragic police shooting death of 16-year-old Matthew Jones it is time to start serving up “the broth” from the inquiries. The FBI has been called in for a civil rights investigation and we figure that move is out of frustration on the part of someone.

In an effort to be impartial and thorough, this case is beginning to look like a FEMA operation! No one is in charge and no one is telling the public what happened with their police last December.

So far the Boise Police, Meridian Police (as a task force member), Ada County Coroner, Boise City Ombudsman, and now the FBI are looking into the death. They all seem to be waiting for the results of the coroner’s inquest and that is on hold.

The system is flawed when taxpayer money and hundreds–if not thousands–of man hours are expended seeking the truth, but results of those investigations will not be examined by jurors during the coroner’s inquest.

The GUARDIAN has refrained from discussing any of the facts or rumors of the case, but we have called for the Ada County Prosecutor to bow out due to conflict of interest.

The public is quickly losing faith in the system as allegations have surfaced on KTVB Channel 7 of the coroner deferring the inquest until after city elections. These charges are quickly followed by denials on the part of the coroner and former police chief. Letter writers to this blog have also called into question the motives of officials. Meanwhile the IDAHO STATESMAN has called into question the coroner’s contention that an impartial jury could not be seated.

THE GUARDIAN suggests that all parties involved prepare their final reports and conclusions. The coroner or his designated legal counsel should subpoena the investigators AND their reports to appear before the inquest.

It is absurd to hand pick a jury and then feed them only bits and pieces from the pot. The jurors AND the public deserve to smell the contents of the entire pot. Then we as a society can decide if it tastes good enough to swallow.

The courts will handle the criminal side of the case, but KIVI Channel 6 ran a story recently which was particularly disturbing. They had a mother on air whose daughter apparently was the focus of attention from the same cop. She claims he had an obvious interest in her daughter and eventually used his badge in an attempt to lure the girl into a “ride along.”

Mom said no to the ride, filed a complaint with the BPD, and received a letter from Chief Mike Masterson confirming the officer’s actions were indeed inappropriate and he promised to take care of the situation. Good marks to Masterson. And especially good marks for Mom to see there was a problem.

All this was BEFORE the alleged criminal assault took place.

To put it in perspective: Had the same circumstances occurred in school, the administration would have been hard pressed to place a teacher alone with 17 year old girls after admitting he had misbehaved previously.

The BPD must answer to the public why they allowed a guy to have 17 year old girls alone in his car AFTER command staff–at least the chief–had already confirmed his behavior was inappropriate. Sounds like a classic failure to communicate.