Blackfoot officers under investigation

Name of the Blackfoot police officers and the Bingham County employee involved in the incident have been released in a separate article, http://www.localnews8.com/news/prosecutors-employee-named-in-trespassing-incident/27464380.

The Blackfoot Police Department completed an internal investigation Monday. It was done in response to four officers trespassing on private land while intoxicated.

“This is just dumb. I don’t know why one of them out of the group didn’t say, ‘This is a bad idea,'” said Chief of Police Kurt Asmus.

Around 10 p.m. on Aug. 5, the Bingham County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call about four officers trespassing in Rockford. The four were not on duty, in uniform or armed at the time, Asmus said. He emphasized they were walking, not driving.

Asmus said this situation isn’t common for his employees and does not affect his officers’ ability to do good police work.

“Officers are human. We do hold ourselves to a higher standard, but we make mistakes like everybody else,” said Asmus.

Asmus said he wanted to apologize to the citizens of Blackfoot. He did not give details of disciplinary action, due to personnel policies, but he said his men would be held accountable. The business involved did not press charges.

“If anyone has any concerns or questions, they can reach me through dispatch,” said Asmus. “We’re not trying to cover anything up — we just want to take care of business and move forward.”

Surveillance video did catch officers in the act, but that video was not made available.