BOISE, Idaho — The state’s first (and the nation’s third) law enforcement child care center is coming to the Ten Mile interchange area in Meridian.
The center would house up to 84 children of officers across the nine agencies in the Treasure Valley, would stay open on nights and weekends, and would charge below-market prices. Plans show a 7,500-square-foot building and an accompanying playground almost as large.
Why a child care center specifically for police? Why not one for other government workers or for families not in government? They face shortages of affordable child care, too, as Boise-area day care centers struggle to survive.
The answer lies in how law enforcement have been “villainized” in recent years, says a former California police detective who formed a foundation to promote child care for law enforcement officers’ families, with the goal of boosting recruitment and diversity in the profession.
Jim Mackay launched the National Law Enforcement Foundation in 2022. The retired San Diego detective told the Idaho Statesman that the Treasure Valley center will be based on a law enforcement child care center that opened in San Diego in February. That center came out of discussions in the local police union.
“Young people really don’t want to be in the profession of law enforcement anymore, because the profession has been villainized,” Mackay told the Statesman, tying dropping recruitment rates nationwide to Black Lives Matter protests and movements to defund police departments.
“So that’s where we started looking at, ‘What can we do to change it, to bring the profession back?’” Mackay said. A “key component,” he found, is child care.
Mackay said his foundation drew from research by groups such as the Police Executive Research Forum and 30×30, an initiative to promote recruitment of female officers. According to 30×30, women make up 12 percent of sworn officers and only 3 percent of police leaders in the country.
“There are a lot of single families, single parents, that couldn’t do this job because of the shift work, not having family in the area to be able to watch your child,” Mackay said. “So having a center like this opens up a profession to a demographic of single parents that was not there before.”
A 2023 report by the Police Executive Research Forum found that gender diversity can benefit agencies and help their public image. For example, female officers are less likely to be named in citizen complaints than male officers, the report said.
Mackay said the San Diego center’s “customizable care” — with long hours and affordable rates — differs from most traditional child care options. “Law enforcement works 24 hours a day,” he said.
Mackay said the center caught the eye of officers in the Treasure Valley and that the foundation formed a community advisory board, which selected fast-growing Meridian for the center. The foundation is also pursuing a center in St. Louis, scheduled to open in May 2025.
Mackay said the Meridian center will be open 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week, with the flexibility to add hours if needed.
The San Diego center offers care at half of the market rate. Mackay said the Treasure Valley center has not landed on a rate yet, but he estimates that it will be between 35 percent and 50 percent of the market rate.
