Treasure Valley Area-Biggest Crime Concerns

[TreasureValley50]

I'll agree with the above and add my .02. The big crimes (murder, rape, robbery, burglary, drugs) are a gimme. Of course the utmost effort should be, and is, given to preventing and solving them when they occur. The little things, like traffic, underage drinking, vandalism etc, are quality of life issues. Instead of crapping on the cops for addressing the quality of life issues, maybe we should be glad that they A) have the time and B) give a hoot.

Next to crime itself, the fear of crime is the biggest impact on a community. A good portion of the regular ol' law abiding public is glad to see a patrol car "showing some door" in their neighborhood and/or stopping the people racing through or past it. Nobody likes to be the guy who's stopped, but I think we can all agree that we like being the parent who's kids the cops are looking out for.

[VERNDAWG]

Nice to see you two getting along.

[Lacerta]

Originally Posted by DrummerBoy

Boise has one of the finest police forces in the nation. Those of us who have lived here for several years or more will remember how they snuffed-out the fledgling infiltration of L.A. gangs. Boise cops are quick to respond, are highly-trained and competent, but yet are for the most part the most courteous cops I've ever seen; and I've lived all over the country, and come from a law enforcement-laden family.

Maybe its changed in the last few years, but from my experience, I would have to disagree with the "quick to respond" part. The two times I have had to call the police, once for a break in and once because someone hit my car and ran, the police took over 45 minutes to arrive on the scene. One was probably 15 years ago, and one was about 7 years ago. When my car got stolen, they never even assigned an investigator.

[TreasureValley50]

Break-ins and hit and runs are property crimes. Unless they are in progress at the time they are reported, they go into waiting until officers are available. If there isn't much going on, you will likely get a response quickly. If things are busy, you will get a response after the fights, domestics, prowlers, burglary alarms, etc are handled. Unfortunately, calls in which a report is going to be taken but no one is in danger, are lower in priority.

Another issue that will help response times is if everyone encourages their friends and family to stop calling the police for non-police problems. Neighbor's stereo too loud? Ask them to turn it down. Loose dog in the neighborhood that's not attacking someone? Call animal control or ignore it. Cops deal with 2 legged animals, not the kind with 4 legs. See a hazardous rock in the road? Pull over and move it instead of calling and having an officer drive several miles to fix what you drove past. Somebody might be waiting for that officer to respond to their hit and run.