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Policeman's Ball



By Joelyn Hansen

Come support families of domestic violence and law enforcement at the Sixth Annual Policeman’s Ball.
Tickets to the ball, which will be held Oct. 5 at the Shilo Inn, are available at the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Center located at 1050 Memorial Drive or www.iflodge6.org.
Each year the ball is held to help raise funds to support the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Center and the Bonneville County and Idaho Falls Fraternal Orders of Police. Proceeds are designated to help rebuild the lives of families and children who have been impacted by domestic violence and sexual assault.
The money is also used to assist officers injured in the line of duty and their families. This helps families cover any costs not covered by medical insurance, lodging and transportation.
The ball will feature a prime rib dinner and dancing, live dessert auction and raffles.
Tickets are $35 for an individual and $60 for a couple.
This event is open to the public.


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Visitors from Germany

Police Officers Tilo Fochtmann (far left) and Janine Beil (far right) from Frankfurt/Oder, Germany in the state of Brandenburg visited our police station on Friday during a stop over in Idaho Falls. Here they had their picture taken with IFPD Officers Jessica Marley and Sage Albright.

By Joelyn Hansen

The IFPD had a special surprise visit from Tilo Fochtmann and Janine Beil from Germany. Both serve as police officers in the state of Brandenburg. Tilo is a Tactical Unit Officer and Janine is a Police Trainer with their department.

We were pleased to be able to showcase our department and share some information about our officers. It's always fun to find out the differences and similarities between departments.

Both Tilo and Janine were amazed that Officer Marley was a member of the IFPD SWAT team because in Germany there are not any female officers on their SWAT team. They called her one "tough" woman!

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IFPD Solves Wells Fargo Robbery




Thanks to DNA and some great investigative work, the IFPD arrested 57-year-old J.D. Collier this afternoon for the April 13th robbery at Wells Fargo bank.

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Too Hot to Handle



We recovered the stolen fishing lure park bench this morning, but are still looking for the perps.  Thanks to a tip, it was located in the 500 block of Old Butte Road this morning, but was likely dumped after 5:30 a.m.

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Now That's Just Wrong



One of the really cool Art Benches was stolen from the greenbelt a couple nights ago and the Idaho Falls Arts Council is offering a $500 reward.  We have a couple persons of interest we’d like help locating:
Two male juveniles both wearing dark hoodies.  One looks like a little person 4’11” or shorter with a Justin Bieber style hair cut (long bangs), and the other is much taller with a silver ball pierced chin, shaved or very short hair cut on one side with the other side being longer and spikey.

Personal note to daughters: Don't even THINK about dating these guys.

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Walk-A-Mile


(Prosecuting Attorney Bruce Pickett on left, me in the middle, Don Carey on right)           

There is an old saying: "You can't really understand another person's experience until you've walked a mile in their shoes." Walk a Mile in Her Shoes® asks men to literally walk one mile in women's high-heeled shoes.  

It’s a great fundraiser for the Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Center here in Idaho Falls and it gets the community talking about a tough subject: gender relations and sexual violence. Sexualized violence does not just affect women. It affects the men who care about them, their families, their friends, their coworkers, and their communities. See www.walkamileinhershoes.org 

We can thank Joelyn for the extra artwork on my shoes.  Other than sporting a few toe blisters, I’m fine.  Thanks for asking.

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Sometimes the Job Gets a Little Messy


By Joelyn Hansen

(Disclaimer -- This post doesn't really serve any real purpose. It just proves that when the Chief leaves me in charge of the blog this can happen. By the way, after reading this don't hesitate to tell him he needs to take back the blog!)

I get asked about my job a lot. Mostly about what it is I exactly do. Most of the time I handle the media, work with the volunteers, cover up graffiti, and ensure that the department is participating in community outreach.

Since I've worked here, I've added a number of skills to my resume, i.e. parade float building, blogger and even on an occasion I've been the "lunch wagon". This past week I added paint disposal to the list.

A couple of weeks ago a whole stash of paint was discovered. The good news is the most of it was still usable, the bad thing was that there was a lot of cans/buckets that were not which left me to getting rid of it. And of course, I to do that I need to dry it out because I don't need the hassle of the EPA!! So after purchasing 100 pounds of cat litter, a litter scoop and a big stick, I spent an afternoon this week mixing cat litter into the paint.

As evidenced by the picture above, it's pretty gross.

Good thing I don't have to do this every day!

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Have you participated in the Citizen's Police Academy?




Sgt. Bill Squires spends the day with academy participants at the gun range

Idaho Falls Detective Jeff Pratt teaches about crime scene investigation at the academy


Students have some fun as Sgt. Steven Poulter teaches about felony traffic stops
By Joelyn Hansen


Television shows like Cops and Law and Order make an attempt at depicting reality. But, if you really want to know the true reality of police work you should participate in the Citizen’s Police Academy.

The Idaho Falls Police Department is still taking application for the 37th session of the IFPD Citizen’s Police Academy which begins on Sept. 19.

This free 6-week class gives residents an inside look into the interworking of law enforcement as they learn about DUI and traffic enforcement, crime scene investigations, K-9s, building searches, patrol tactics, the SWAT team and the bomb team.

Most importantly class participants will have the opportunity to meet police officers and hear first-hand about what it is like to work and serve with the IFPD.


As a graduate of the Citizen’s Academy I highly recommend this class. Anyone that has ever watched television police shows or is just curious about police officers will thoroughly enjoy this class as they get a better understanding of police work. Plus, it’s just plain fun.


Classes are held every Wednesday starting at 7 p.m. at the IFPD Training Annex Building, located at 740 Park Ave.

Anyone interested in the class is encouraged to visit the IFPD website and click this link“Citizen’s Police Academy” or by stopping by the police station at 605 N. Capital Ave. All applications must be turned into the IFPD by Sept. 12. Space is limited so hurry and apply.




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