Rigby Police Chief Larry Anderson is retiring after 42 years of service.  The amazing part is that he was chief for 34 of those years.  That has to be some kind of record - especially since the average tenure of a police chief is less than three years. When Larry first started in Aug of 1969, the chief handed him a gun and a badge and then left town for the week.  That was the

Five incidents will likely be remembered as the “top” IFPD news stories for 2011. 1.       March 22: The Idaho Falls Police Department began investigating the homicide of Anthony K. Camp who was shot and killed while fleeing from another vehicle pursuing him and his passenger. Four days later Geoffrey S. Elawadly was taken into custody for second-degree murder and two

Currently, anyone can park a motorhome or trailer on the street provided it’s moved within 48 hours.  Problem is some people circumvent the intent of the law by driving it around the block or pulling ahead a few feet.Tonight, the City Council will consider an ordinance preventing these people from using city streets for storage of recreational vehicles and trailers.  If the proposed

Last summer, we investigated four cases involving door-to-door salesman behaving badly – very badly.  One was arrested for burglary and two others for sexual assault.  All of them were from out of town and most had criminal records.This is one of those ordinances that has a lot more complexity than meets the eye because of first amendment issues.  I blogged on that a few months ago. 

Ken joined the Idaho Falls Police Department Jan 11, 1982, a week after I did.  Yeah, we’re old.Ken's 30-years as a police officer certainly didn't leave him without stories to tell.  He was shot in the abdomen responding to a robbery in 1985.  He was one of the first officers that had the wisdom to wear a protective vest.  At that time, we had to buy our own.  It made a

By Joelyn Hansen Perceptions of police officers are not always positive. Officers are often called upon to make tough decisions that ultimately change the path of whom they interact with. Sometimes those decisions result in someone being taken to jail or children being taken from a home. In the bigger picture, police are trying to protect society and the individuals directly involved. But, on

Ever have mixed feelings about technology?  What’s that saying about mixed feelings – “seeing your mother-in-law drive over a cliff in your brand new Mercedes”?  This time, for the IFPD, technology paid off nicely with some reoccuring burglaries.  Unlike Hollywood, technology doesn’t solve cases, but it helps.  Flowers at the Falls was hit three times over the past four months. 

Trust strikes at the heart of why our constitutional form of government works.  If people have a general trust for the legal system, police in particular, they are more likely to follow the law.  In fact, the reason we can police with so few officers is that the majority of citizens are moral and trust us. Former U.S. President John Adams once wrote, “Our Constitution was made only for a

Click the link from our website to check out the crime in your neighborhood.  It will give you a pin map of crimes reported to the police. What’s really cool is that you can customize it to your neighborhood.  You can track crimes by category, day of the week, and proximity to your house.  You can even receive email alerts. Crime Mapping is updated every 24 hours.  While we chose

As I watch police respond to public protest – most recently, Occupy Wall Street - it’s a good time to review our policing methods and how they apply to crowd control.  This isn’t Syria and our job isn’t to protect the government. Basically, we apply the same concepts we use in other police situations from domestic violence to traffic stops with one significant difference.  We need to