Boise Police officers have spent years committed to a community policing model and that means adapting and adjusting based on the needs of the community. Looking ahead to 2022, and in no particular order, here are a few of the efforts we believe will have a big impact in the coming year.
Service Coordinator
Similar to our Behavioral Health Response team, BPD recently hired a civilian Service Coordinator to help create and provide appropriate intervention programs for individuals with a Substance Use Disorder. The Service Coordinator will also work with a Liaison officer to make contacts with individuals who may benefit from additional community resources while also reducing that individual’s contact with the criminal justice system and prevent further offending.
Human and Civil Rights Education and Immersion Program
The first wave of police employees will soon begin going through the department’s new Human and Civil Rights Education and Immersion Program. This program is being designed for every member of the department and will serve as the foundation of our leadership programs. The Boise Police Department has worked hard to build a trusting relationship with the community and aiming for high standards is part of our core values. With this program, we will build on those successes and continue to push the envelope in policing to provide the type of leadership as well as the understanding and protection of human and civil rights that the community expects.
Growing our data team and increasing transparency through public-facing dashboards
Publicly available data helps us all have better conversations about the future of the city and the police department. We have a number of great employees working on gathering and interpreting this data now and are looking to expand our abilities with new positions aimed at helping us be more efficient with everything from personnel decisions, to crime prevention. We are also ensuring that we are collecting or accessing the right data in the first place so that we can confidently make it available to the public.
Adding to our Liaison Team
The Boise Police Department has an internationally recognized Refugee Liaison program. The Albanian Department of Interior even met with us for advice recently as they prepared to take in new refugees. Since the success of that program, we have added additional part-time Liaison positions for officers to better connect with communities. In addition to the Refugee Liaison, we have a Hispanic/Latino Liaison, NAACP Liaison, LGBTQ+ Liaison, and now, new this year, an Asian American and Pacific Islander Liaison. Officer Ted Ni recently joined the team and is already connecting with that community on issues important to them.