Boise Police chief search down to 2 finalists, from Portland and Austin, Texas
There are two remaining candidates for the job of Boise Police Department chief.
The city announced Wednesday that its nationwide search has come down to a pair of finalists: assistant police chiefs from Portland, Oregon, and Austin, Texas, according to a press release.
Joseph Chacon is an assistant chief for the Austin Police Department, a role he has held since September 2016, according to his LinkedIn profile. Ryan Lee is in the same position at the Portland Police Department and has been since June 2019. Both have been with their respective departments for at least 20 years.
Chacon and Lee are vying to replace William Bones, who retired in October. The two will be interviewed via video by different groups, including local law enforcement officials, two community panels and a Boise Police Department panel.
Wednesday’s announcement means that two other finalists — Ron Winegar, deputy chief at BPD, and Alice Fulk, assistant chief of the Little Rock (Arkansas) Police Department — are no longer in the running.
The city is hoping to conduct the interviews over the next two weeks, it said in the release.
Mike Masterson, Boise’s police chief from 2004 to 2014, has been serving as acting chief since November. Winegar served as interim chief between Bones and Masterson, and Boise Mayor Lauren McLean announced earlier this week that Winegar will take over for Masterson as acting chief starting April 24.
While chief, Bones made about $165,000 a year, making him the third-highest-paid employee in the city, behind only Airport Director Rebecca Hupp and then-Boise Fire Chief Dennis Doan. It is not clear how much the new chief will make.
