Pocatello police: Raise your own kids - East Idaho News
Pocatello

Pocatello police: Raise your own kids

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POCATELLO — The Pocatello Police Department will no longer be responding to calls to help parents discipline their children.

“We’re not in the business of scaring kids, so we’re not going to go there and scare your kids,” Chief Scott Marchand said. “We also can’t raise your children. Because they aren’t listening to you does not make it a crime.”

“Officers will not respond when a child refuses to clean their room.”

Marchand told EastIdahoNews.com that’s just one type of call officers are no longer responding to. After a patrol staff meeting, officers and administrators are trying to focus more on protecting, and less on serving — at least, on calls that lie outside of their responsibilities.

“We’re a full-service police department, but truly we can’t respond to things that are not criminal,” Marchand said.

He said the department has been taking service calls on civil matters for as long as he can remember, and they’ve increased over the last year. For example, people calling for officers to be a witness while they sign paperwork. Or, landlords calling for officers to stand by while delivering an eviction notice.

And is your child’s room so messy, it’s a crime? You’re on your own.

“Officers will not respond when a child refuses to clean their room,” according to a news release.

“We want our guys on the street being proactive and fighting crime.”

Marchand said it’s time for officers to shift the majority of their focus over to matters that are crime- and traffic-based.

“We want our guys on the street being proactive and fighting crime,” Marchand said.

The Pocatello Police Department is continuing to streamline the calling system by encouraging the public to report crimes online, such as stolen property, email fraud, or harassing telephone calls. Police will follow up if after review they find it necessary.

“It saves a ton of time. That information get reported to us, it gets looked at and viewed so we know what’s going on,” Marchand said.

He said police work hard to ensure the safety of the community, and he hopes people understand they’re trying to best use their time with law enforcement duties.

“We’re a full-service police department, but truly we can’t respond to things that are not criminal,” Marchand said.

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