BOISE, Idaho — A brand new station for Boise Police — the new building, not far from Esther Simplot Park, will now serve as the main hub for the department's traffic, DUI, and special events teams, plus a place where officers can drop in for administrative tasks.
"It’ll allow officers to come in, get that stuff done, and be able to redeploy to this part of the city quicker," said Boise Police Chief Chris Dennison.
Dennison says crime in this part of the community was not a consideration when choosing the location but, instead, an effort to have a bigger BPD footprint across the city. This will allow for more patrols and quicker response times.
He says, "What we wanted to do was not be pulling officers needing to do police reports or other administrative tasks all the way back to the west side of the city. So it enables us to keep officers deployed on this side of the city; it's just more efficient."
In the future, Chief Dennison and Boise Mayor Lauren McLean say more substations could pop up in neighborhoods.
"We have a plan to make sure neighborhoods have police officer presence in it. This is the first of what will be many in decades to come, touchdown stations, neighborhood stations for our police officers," says City of Boise Mayor Lauren Mclean
I wanted to know how neighbors felt about more officers in the neighborhood. Some told me they feel extremely safe but like the idea of added patrols.
Marcey Logue, who just moved to the Whitewater area from Meridian, says she’s never been concerned for her safety, no matter the time of day.
Logue says, "We come out sometimes as early as 1 or 2 in the morning if he needs to go potty in the middle of the night, or sometimes as late as 10 p.m. at night when it’s nice and dark, and I’ve felt completely safe."
Boiseans looking to file a police report will still have to visit City Hall West, but Chief Dennison says reaction and response may be quicker with the added station.
