Legislators review Idaho State Police budget as director warns of staffing shortfalls and seeks funding for fentanyl, forensic and IT work

The Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee heard a budget review for the Division of Idaho State Police on Feb. 12 that highlighted personnel shortages, a slate of enhancement requests and plans for new forensic facilities and investigator units.

Noah Peterson, budget policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, told the committee the division is allocated 583.67 full-time positions and reported about 38.67 positions vacant as of August of last year. Peterson reviewed enhancement requests that include adding fentanyl-focused investigators, consolidating certain IT positions under the Office of Information Technology Services (OITS), and funding a new remote housing unit.

The committee also heard from Colonel Bill Gardner, director of the Idaho State Police, who stressed the operational effect of vacancies and pay competition with local agencies. “We are genuinely struggling with what we pay our troopers compared to what the cities and counties around them do,” Colonel Gardner said, noting recent losses of troopers to municipal and out-of-state employers.

Why it matters: Committee members said the staffing shortfalls affect patrol coverage in parts of the state and asked for data and proposals to improve recruitment and retention. The budget requests reviewed would preserve or expand investigative capacity and technology infrastructure used by statewide law enforcement.

Major requests and program details - Fentanyl-focused unit: An enhancement would add 10 full-time positions (FTP) and $1,043,300 to create a unit…