Boise Police will be at Central District Health at 3:30 today when board members vote on a public health order. Officers are preparing for a large number of protestors and we have protective fencing in place to help keep people in attendance safe. Boise Police will be assisted by Idaho State Police and we are prepared to make sure this meeting takes place. Our officers on scene will be able to adjust as needed, we will also be providing updated information throughout the event to local media and on social media.
Our goals for this event include:
- Ensure the government can function and the people involved in the governmental process can do their job.
- Ensure people can safely exercise their rights to free speech.
This meeting follows open meeting laws.
- The meeting is available to be watched online and a limited number of people will be allowed to watch from inside due to COVID-19 restrictions.
- Information: https://cdh.idaho.gov/about-boardofhealth-meetings.php
- Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4LJ1BM5Jv3zczecnYkXarw/
Boise Police and our partner agencies are also working to ensure the safety of board members attending the meeting remotely. We are working with them and their families regarding concerns about their safety at home and taking the necessary precautions. People involved in tonight’s meeting have felt threatened by protestors, our officers have also been the target of those threats. For that reason, today officers will be wearing identification numbers rather than their name tags. Those numbers will work the same way as a name if anyone needs to identify an officer during the event or after. The number tags also allow our officers to focus on the event at hand rather than worrying about their homes and their families. As we have seen in the past, protestors have shown up at community members homes, officers homes, and threatened to continue to do so.