Boise swears in new police chief day after fights erupt at Black Lives Matter rally
Minutes after Ryan Lee was sworn in as Boise’s new police chief, he called violence at Tuesday’s Black Lives Matter rally “reprehensible.”
While being sworn in, he said he was humbled by the opportunity to serve the city.
“Everyone I’ve met in this city has been welcoming and rightfully proud to live here,” Lee said at the ceremony. “I look forward to serving the people of this great city and joining a police department with a well-deserved reputation as a leader in policing.”
But after, he said that while he was political neutral, he was surprised to see the “level of incivility” at Tuesday’s events.
“Some of the conduct I’ve seen on the news is reprehensible, has no place in a civilized society and has no place in our fine city of Boise,” he told reporters. “Physical confrontations are wholly inappropriate.”
Lee, formerly an assistant chief with the Portland Police Bureau, was sworn in by Mayor Lauren McLean on Wednesday afternoon, just one day after a Black Lives Matter rally calling to defund police was cut short after turning violent.
She condemned counterprotesters earlier Wednesday for using “physical violence and intimidation,” while the Boise Police Department called the amount of confrontation “unprecedented” for the city.
During the ceremony, McLean said Lee was “the right person for the time that we find ourselves in for our community.” She told Lee she looked forward to having tough conversations with him and with the community to ensure everyone in Boise feels safe and valued.
Lee said that the “national narrative around police has brought intense scrutiny” to the profession, but he committed to transparency, accountability and leadership.
Boise’s proposed police budget for the next fiscal year, which starts in October, is $71,179,598, or about 30% of the proposed general fund budget. That’s up from the 2020 budget, which allocated just over $70 million for police, about 29% of the budget.
Lee and McLean said previously that they do not support defunding the police department. Nationally, activists have called for cities to take money away from police departments and put it toward social services, but McLean has said she believes money can be put toward both. Lee told reporters last month that cities need to be “mindful and thoughtful about police funding.”
Lee was one of two finalists for the job. The other was Joseph Chacon, an assistant chief for the Austin, Texas, Police Department. Lee is a veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard and holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from California State University, Sacramento and a master’s degree in criminal justice from Boston University.
He served with the Portland Police Bureau for 20 years. He was billed there as a “national subject matter expert in policing large-scale events and public order policing” with a background in homeland security, terrorism and intelligence.
Portland has been criticized for the way its police bureau has handled protests following the death of George Floyd. The department faces lawsuits for using excessive force against demonstrators. When asked about the criticism in June, he declined to comment on specifics but said said he advocated for the department to form relationships with demonstrators and activists to better manage large events.
Deputy Chief Ron Winegar has served as the department’s acting chief since April. Before that, Mike Masterson, who served as Boise’s police chief from 2004 to 2014, served as acting chief after Bill Bones retired in October after 27 years with the department.
This story was originally published July 1, 2020 at 2:32 PM.
.jpg)