Boise Police outlines 10-year strategic plan with staffing and technology priorities
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Summary
Chief Dennison presented a 10-year strategic plan that sets five priorities—community trust, invest in people, safe policing, infrastructure modernization and organizational strength—targets 1.8 officers per 1,000 residents, and emphasizes data-driven metrics, workforce resilience, and technology choices tied to crime trends.
Boise Police Chief Dennison told the City Council the department has drafted a 10-year strategic plan designed to align staffing, technology and programs with the city's priorities and to inform future budget requests.
Dennison said the plan is data-driven and meant to create a multi-year road map rather than year-to-year asks. He summarized recent workload and crime trends: Boise's population is "right around 250,000 residents," traffic volume is up about 4.5% (which staff said equates to roughly 920,000 additional car trips per month, per ITD), overall officer workload is up about 8% with a 21% increase in officer-initiated activity, and part-1 crimes (homicide, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor-vehicle theft, arson) are trending down in several categories.
The plan rests on five strategic priorities: uphold community trust; invest in people; advance safe policing; modernize infrastructure; and build organizational strength. Dennison offered short- and long-term examples under those priorities, including assigning a shelter-support liaison (already completed), expanding the bike unit by 2027, implementing demand-based staffing with shift changes in March 2026, finalizing a facilities master plan in spring 2026 and pursuing a real-time crime center by 2030.
On staffing, the chief said Boise currently has about 1.355 officers per 1,000 residents and set a target of 1.8 per 1,000 over the plan horizon. He also said the department recently set a floor of 125 deployable patrol officers and that, accounting for six FTEs approved in October and planned over-hire in January, "we will have an overhire sworn by 3 personnel" if attrition holds as expected.
Council members asked about regional comparisons, how the plan accounts for non-Boise residents who commute into the city for work or events, recruitment strategies (including improving female officer recruitment), and technology priorities such as drones and automated license-plate readers (ALPR). Dennison said drones are used operationally but airport airspace can limit some drone programs; he prioritized ALPR and other crime-fighting technologies over drones as first-responder tools at this time.
Dennison said the plan includes eight strategic indicators the department will track (response-time metrics, resolution efficiency, clearance rates for serious crimes, and other performance measures) and that staff will produce annual progress reports to council and the public.
Council members thanked the chief for the presentation and asked for additional detail on staffing allocations, daily population-loads from surrounding municipalities, and the distribution of traffic-enforcement resources; the chief said the plan will be reviewed annually and adjusted to reflect changing trends.
