OpenCdA could not help noticing that at least according to the Sunday Coeur d’Alene Press skewspaper article headlined A matter of public safety, newly-hired Police Chief Lee White wants to equip the Coeur d’Alene Police Department with a mobile command center (mouse click photo at left to enlarge) and a crime scene vehicle.
He estimated the combined cost of the two specialized vehicles would be approximately $300,000.
OpenCdA thinks that would be money well spent, a very wise investment.
In April 2008, OpenCdA severely criticized the Coeur d’Alene Police Department, the City government, and the Lake City Development Corporation (LCDC – the City’s urban renewal agency) in a series of five posts headlined Toilet Not Included. Those posts explained why we believed that spending $50,000 of the taxpayer’s money to put a precast concrete building in Coeur d’Alene City Park to be used as a public safety agency staging point was a bad idea, a poor use of public money. Part 5 of that series outlined why we believed a mobile command center would have been a much wiser use of public money by the City. But by then the fix was already in for Boopsie’s Bunker in the Park.
We are also happy to see Chief White’s desire to purchase a mobile crime scene vehicle as well. Crime scene command and control are essential to recognizing, collecting, and preserving crime scene evidence. Mobility allows crime scene investigators and evidence technicians to make a more timely and efficient response. That is even more important when there may be multiple crime scenes associated with one ongoing incident as we saw this past weekend with the multiple homicides in Moscow, Idaho.
We support his desire to acquire these vehicles. We think there is an important reason that goes beyond improving the logistical command, control, communications, and crime scene management capabilities of the Coeur d’Alene Police Department.
Based on his background, we strongly suspect Chief White has some experience with designing, using, and adapting incident command and crime scene vehicles. If that is true, then he also likely knows the positive effect they will have on employee performance. When already-skilled and committed employees have the leadership and supervision, training, and tools they need to perform their duties better and more professionally, the employees will often exceed the public’s expectations. We think that’s the direction the Coeur d’Alene Police Department is heading.
Oh, how we wish we could brag that Chief White had obviously read our April 2008 OpenCdA posts and that he was influenced by them, but even we are not that delusional. Incident command vehicles and mobile crime scene vehicles have been around in some form for decades in innovative law enforcement agencies. Coeur d’Alene has been way behind the innovation curve, but we are very hopeful that Chief Lee White is changing that.
For a city this size this should be a joint police and fire effort.
Comment by Mike Teague — January 13, 2015 @ 8:59 am
Mike,
That is certainly worth looking at, at least insofar as the incident command vehicle is concerned. Less so the crime scene vehicle.
In fact, when Boopsie’s Bunker in the Park was being considered, it was supposed to be jointly staffed. Turns out the Fire Department didn’t really participate or have any interest in it. I can’t say as I blame them.
Comment by Bill — January 13, 2015 @ 11:20 am
I believe this purchase would be made when and if the proposed safety bond is passed. Are you endorsing passage of the bond? And then there is the school district setting a date for an override levy vote. Who else is lining up to raise property taxes?
Comment by Gary Ingram — January 13, 2015 @ 12:02 pm
Gary,
Provisionally, yes, I am endorsing the passage of the bond. I don’t like how the City got to the point that it is necessary, but I believe it is necessary. Coeur d’Alene now has what I believe is a professionally capable chief executive law enforcement officer. I am pretty confident that public money invested in the police department will be wisely spent and properly accounted.
I can’t say the same thing as confidently about the fire department, but allowing the timely delivery and quality fire suppression service to deteriorate not only jeopardizes the public’s safety but the public’s insurance premiums as well.
Because of our current mayor, his predecessor, and their respective cronies on the Planning Commission and City Council’s unwillingness to control and limit structure type and placement, the demands for both police and fire service are going to change and increase. The fire department is going to have to be staffed, trained, and equipped for all-hazard responses in an even more vertical environment than it has experienced so far. And because of mutual aid responses, the demands on CdA employees and equipment are not going to be limited to the city limits of Corrupt d’Alene. Surrounding cities and the likely expansion of COE are going to affect the wear and tear on CdA’s men and machines.
As our area becomes more urbanized, interagency collaboration and consequence management becomes more essential and, unfortunately, more costly. But if it is well-planned, it can keep costs more manageable and predictable. I think the CdA and Post Falls police departments have the chiefs capable of that kind of planning. I’m less sure about the fire services, but the fire service response to the anhydrous trimethylamine haz-mat incident at the weigh station on I-90 last September suggests they do.
Comment by Bill — January 13, 2015 @ 12:39 pm