MISCELLANEOUS OFFENSES

MISSING PERSONS

The police department investigates cases involving missing children, juveniles, runaways and adults. A child or juvenile is defined as a person younger than 18 years of age. An adult is a person 18 or older. There is not time requirement before a person can be listed as missing.

REPORTING A MISSING CHILD OR RUNAWAY

1. If a child or juvenile is believed to be missing, parents should first make sure the youngster is not inside the home or anywhere in the immediate area. Check for evidence of the child leaving such as a note or missing clothing.

2.  Contact the police if the youngster still cannot be found.

The officer enters the reported information into the National Crime Information Center's computer files. Such information can be helpful to other agencies in locating missing children or runaways.

When a missing youngster is found or has returned home, the police department should be contacted immediately at 785-1234 so the case can be closed.

REPORTING A MISSING ADULT

To report an adult missing, call the police department at 785-1235. Priority is given to cases involving elderly, senile or mentally incompetent persons. As with missing youngsters, there is no waiting period for the report to be accepted. You will be required to sign a report prior to the adult being listed as missing with the National Crime Information Center.

When a missing adult is located or returns home, the police department should be contacted immediately so the case can be closed.

The current location of adults who voluntarily leave home may not be divulged without the permission of the adult.

PROWLERS

There's a very good chance that the unexplained noise you heard was the wind, boxes falling in a closet, or the neighbor's cat. But, if you do suspect that an uninvited "guest" is prowling or trespassing on your property, dial 911 and police officers will investigate on-scene. Blackfoot police officers would rather respond to a possible prowler than not receive the call and have a crime occur. If officers locate a prowler you may be asked to sign a trespassing summons and complaint. In any case, the trespasser will be removed. 
IMPORTANT: Once you have called 911 regarding a prowler, do not go outside and attempt to investigate or locate the prowler yourself. A tragedy could occur if police and citizens mistake one another for prowlers.  You need to stay on line with the dispatcher until police officers are on the scene.  Do not hang up.

HARASSING TELEPHONE CALLS

Making annoying, threatening, or obscene telephone calls is a violation of state law.  The police department will investigate the crime.

If the call is threatening in nature a customer service representative of U.S. West Communications may be able to assist you in tracing future calls. You may contact U.S. West Communications at 208-896-1111. 

U. S. West Communications now has "Call Trace" which is a system to help identify phone harassers. To use it press *57 (or dial 1157 on a rotary phone) and the caller's number will be forwarded to U.S. West. You may then contact U.S. West and ask that they notify the Blackfoot Police Department of the caller's identity. U.S. West will not reveal to you the caller's name or telephone number however. To make the system work, you must press *57 immediately after hanging up from the offensive call.

Persons who make abusive telephone calls often receive their satisfaction from listening to your shocked reaction over receiving the call. As a result, your best response to this kind of annoyance is simply to hang up promptly without saying anything and press *57 on your telephone, then call the police.

UNWANTED CALLS

1:  Don’t give out personal information such as name, address, social security number or birth date.

2:  If you have an answering machine, use it to screen unwanted calls.

3:  Notify the police if the call is harassing or threatening in nature. The tape is used as evidence so it is important to save it.