Tracking code caldwell guardian

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Cowboy Coppers Wreck Four Police Cars

THE GUARDIAN is wondering what the Nampa Coppers were thinking when they managed to wreck four Nampa patrol cars, a residents car and the guy they were chasing got his car wrecked as well.  At one point in time there were seven Nampa Police cars in this wild chase around the fair city of Nampa.

It all started when the arrested driver of the vehicle was weaving while driving and was observed with an open container.  The Coppers were trying to explain that given the early morning hour of 1:00 AM made the HIGH SPEED CHASE a relatively safe decision on their part.  The reality is driving at high speeds in residential areas in the middle of the night is NOT a reasonable NOR safe thing to do.  House walls will not stop a speeding vehicle. 

The end result is four expensive taxpayer owned vehicles are severely damaged. a citizens vehicle was damaged and the perp's car is probably totaled.  They could have called off the high speed pursuit and followed this guy to his destination and arrested him without incident v. all the mayhem resulting from the pursuit decision. 

Here's a link to the story and photos from the KTVB website. 
http://www.ktvb.com/news/Four-Nampa-squad-cars-wrecked-during-high-speed-chase-215542831.html

34 comments:

  1. I wonder if there will be an investigation into the circumstances of this incident and if so, will we ever hear about it or will it be quietly swept under the rugs at the new police building and Nampa City Hall.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey you guys are the ones who insist on having city police departments answerable to mayors instead of consolidating and going metro where they work for elected officials who are directly responsible to voters. Hey just a thought.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sheriff's wouldn't chase him, they'd spike him so he cant run....

    ReplyDelete
  4. The city of Nampa needs a citizen advocate to look into police matters such as this. The Nampa p.d. has already proven themselves untrustworthy of self-examination in an unbiased manner.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Maybe it is tradition. Something crazy always happens during Stampede week.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This high speed chase is proof enough for me NPD people who authorized and participated in this Duke's of Hazard chase need to pay for the cars they wrecked. I heard a comment, "they were only having a little fun" and it really ticked me off. Cop cars are expensive pieces of equipment that were abused for no good reason. Which brings me to the next issue; why do city cops need interceptor rated cars that can do 150 MPH?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Unprofessional behavior at taxpayer expense!

    ReplyDelete
  8. You can't keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. In that vein, Tom Dale is up for election in the Fall and if this thing is swept under the rug Mr. Henry deserves some consideration for your Mayoral Vote.

    The buck stops at Mr. Dale's desk and it will be interesting to hear and read the follow-up on this incident.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Bob Muse is the candidate of choice for Nampa mayor as he has filed for bankruptcy once, as one of our current county commissioners has done. It would be going against history to elect someone who has his own successful business. To expect performance other than the ability to toot your own horn is expecting way too much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Successful people are busy being successful, seems the flunkies and the duds are the only ones that have time to run for office!

      Delete
  10. Not to be outdone, Caldwell Police gave chase to a "criminal" and ended up driving on Fairview Golf Course narrowly missing a golfer in the process.
    The rodeo mentality of giving pursuit at high speed and putting citizens at risk is foolish and if it doesn't stop someone is going to get hurt or killed in the process.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Of course if that were to happen, a true politician would use it as an opportunity to plead their case to the public for more funding of their police force. Their slogan would be " save the golfers".

      Delete
  11. Which department is the one that is using the smaller cars I have been seeing around town lately instead of the big Detroit iron? The all white cars? They look smaller than the Crown Victorias they were driving.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That would be the Canyon County Sheriff's Ford Fusion cars you are seeing. I have not heard any comments on if they love them or hate them but for sure they get better mileage. The use of Interceptor Vehicles that can go 150 MPH just don't make any sense for any local department. They do make sense for ISP.

      Delete
  12. MAYBE THE CALDWELL AND NAMPA COPPERS SHOULD BE TAKING A HINT FROM THE COUNTY COPPERS ON THIS ONE.I SAW WHERE THEY EVEN GOT SOME KIND OF NATIONAL AWARD FOR THEIR POLICE CARS BEING MORE FUEL EFFICIENT AND SUCH. MAYBE THEY SHOULD ALL CONSOLIDATE AND GO THROUGH THE COUNTY CAR SHOP FOR THEIR CARS.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I recently had the pleasure of meeting one of Nampas finest when I received a speeding ticket on 12th Av. Rd in front of D&B. I was going N. down the hill where it changes from 55 to 35 in a fairly short distance. I don't so much mind getting the ticket if I was speeding, but $90 for a minimum fine seems pretty excessive. I guess its a pretty good investment for the city to buy a car and hire a patrolman to write a couple thousand dollars of tickets a day. Yet again the city shows that the citizens are just a cash crop that needs to be picked every now and then.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I say just do away with city police and merge them all under the sheriff where it belongs. The Sheriff is griping how much more the cities are paying their cops, so I think I would rather fire a couple hundred city cops and have the sheriff hire a couple of hundred at his going rate to replace them. No more unions, unnecessary chases, and cops would be forced to drive economical cars that won't do 150 mph any more instead of gas guzzling muscle cars. Besides, I hear cities are allowed to profit from tickets where counties are not. No more quotas!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I heard the sheriff brought the union in and was a union supporter. How would getting rid of city cops change anything?

      Delete
    2. He did not bring in a union, that is a bald faced lie. Whoever told you that needs to get his facts straight.

      Delete
    3. It is true cities get a large share of revenue from tickets. County sheriff's do not though. The majority of a county sheriff's office operational budget comes from property taxes. I know for a fact there are no quotas at the county sheriff's office. Can't vouch for the cities you would have to ask them.

      Delete
    4. If the county is so great how come the coppers there are all leaving for Nampa, Boise and Ada county then? They are jumping ship faster than rats off a sinking ship! They must not be that good then. Nampa PD is much more stable. We should dissolve the others and make Nampa the primary police force for everyone and they can all contract with them. No more hot shot sheriffs that think they can run over everyone else!

      Delete
    5. They are leaving for significantly better pay. The cities pay better because they keep hiking up the taxes. Meanwhile the best the county can seem to come up with after several years of pay cuts and stagnating wages is no more than 3% if all goes well. You know when a guy can change from one department to another and watch his wages go up by 15% or more to start just for changing departments, it's no wonder why they cant keep their employees.

      Delete
  15. Brilliant! This is a really marvellous stuff for me. Must agree that you are one of the coolest blogger. I was curious to see a stuff like that. Fabulous post.

    ReplyDelete
  16. If you don't pursue offenders that sents the standards that if you don't want to be held accountable for your actions just speed away from the officer and he won't pursue you. Is that the better option? What if the guy the officer was pursuing just took an axe to one of your loved ones or raped your daughter?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And what if the person chased by cops is a young kid with his whole life ahead of them and ends up dead as a result and the chase is over something minor? It happened to a lady I used to work with. Her son was killed in Nampa due to a chase and he was on a motorcycle. The wreckage this incident left for that mother and her family calls into question the value of cops playing cowboy with taxpayer assets.

      I have lived here for more than three decades and can't recall a single incident of an axe murderer involved in a high speed chase. You have been watching too much TV.

      Delete
    2. "Cowboy Mike" the serial killer was chased by Canyon County Sheriff's Office and captured by their K-9 unit. Now you were saying sir?

      You are both right, once the word gets out, then more of them will run because they know the cops won't chase. On the flip side though, all too often some stupid kid will run as you have mentioned and sometimes that ends in tragedy as well.

      I know many police departments have adopted stricter policies regarding pursuits, many will not even allow chases involving motorcycles for that very reason. I can tell you from first hand knowledge that many more offenders are choosing to run content in the knowledge the cops are not going to chase them. After a while you just get used to the idea that some people have figured out how not to live by society's rules and get away with it, and you will have to accept that lawbreakers only get caught and punished so long as they allow themselves to be apprehended.

      Tactics are changing and evolving as we speak which reduce the need for high speed chases. Your implication that police officers are "Playing Cowboy" with taxpayer assets is insulting to police officers to say the least. What happened with the Nampa Police Department in this case is mind boggling, and obviously there needs to be some accountability here. This case however is by no means the norm.

      There is a time and place for everything, it is obvious this chase was not appropriate. Vehicles are not toys. High speed chases are scary things which require teamwork and a great amount of coordination and skill to execute safely.

      Criminals need to be held accountable for their actions too. In this community though if you chase, you get the blame if the fleeing criminal crashes or kills someone. If you don't chase, you get blamed for not doing your job and stopping the criminal. Get used to being the bad guy if you want to be a cop.

      I would invite you to ask for the statistical data for the past 5 years from the local PD's and see how many pursuits have been initiated by officers. You might be surprised to learn there are not as many as you think, and at least 98% are called off immediately by supervisors.

      Delete
    3. Most people are compliant with emergency vehicles in the course of their duties to serve and protect. This post poses the question was the chase and the ensuing destruction of four Nampa Police Vehicles the result of good judgment? The supervisor and the officers involved in this episode need to be kicked to the curb for their antics. The idiot that was the object was a DUI. Shadowing this guy all the way to a place where he could have been stopped safely and legally, without wrecking four cop cars with a value of $37K for each car and the three others not damaged is at best a juvenile display of bad behavior on the parts of all the cops involved. SPIKES WOULD HAVE BEEN THE ANSWER HERE! Every taxpayer in Nampa should be offended by the actions taken here. SPIKES, SPIKES, SPIKES cheap and effective in stopping vehicles.

      Delete
  17. Training from the Idaho State Police emphasize that almost all high speed chases end badly. Perhaps some officers need a refresher course

    ReplyDelete
  18. In reply to the posting concerning the gentleman who was killed running from the police. I will defer to someone smarter than I who said . Life is hard . It's much harder and in some cases much shorter if you are stupid. Unfortunately he made a bad choice and paid the price . Apparently today you should be able to do anything you want with no penalty no matter how foolish or dangerous it is.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. spoken like a true member of the gestapo.

      Delete
  19. I was amazed by the content.. cool .. thanks a lot for showing it to us.


    regards,
    Loy =)

    ReplyDelete
  20. For anonymous above


    Spoken like someone who expects to be taken care of and have someone else clean up their messes.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I sincerely doubt that any of the Nampa PDers will ever be accused of being Einsteins.

    But taxpayers and citizens should not be taxed directly or indirectly for their malfeasance and misguidedness.

    Cops need to be held accountable, but it is becoming more rare.

    And the explosion in ticket writing and explosion in charges by the prosecutors is unwarranted and bald-faced abuse of authority.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Not to be outdone, Caldwell Police gave chase to a "criminal" and ended up driving on Fairview Golf Course narrowly missing a golfer in the process.
    토토사이트

    ReplyDelete

A public discourse on the issues of the day makes the world a better place.

We welcome comments but they will be moderated and edited if too long or do not have anything to do with the post.
Agree or disagree just do it without profanity or it won't get posted. Try to keep your comments to no more than 300 words. Too long and I will try to edit it down or simply delete the comment. The whole idea is to get people to read your comment. Don't use 10 words when one will do the job.

It's OK to have a difference of opinion but keep it civil. I have used the "delete" feature on myself at times.

The ANONYMOUS feature for comments seems to be the most user friendly. People have commented they have difficulty with the other methods of posting comments.