Boise mayor: ‘Unprecedented’ public release of personnel complaints led to Lee’s departure

Boise Mayor Lauren McLean, in an interview with the Idaho Statesman on Thursday, shed light on the resignation of Boise Police Chief Ryan Lee and the city’s decision-making process.

In a sit-down interview with the Statesman, McLean said a large part of the decision to ask for Lee’s resignation was the result of a changing “landscape” and the “unprecedented step” of publicizing personnel complaints. McLean was referring to an article published by KTVB that detailed employee allegations against Lee.

In emails reviewed by the Idaho Statesman, first reported by KTVB, a Boise police supervisor said he gathered complaints from several other staff members and submitted those to the city’s Human Resources Department and Office of Police Accountability. A February email from the supervisor detailed close to a dozen complaints against Lee, including allegations that he retaliated against officers, made derogatory comments about residents and brought “substandard training” to the department.

Less than 24 hours after the allegations were publicized, McLean asked Lee to step down, but during Thursday’s interview, McLean said that Lee’s management issues also played into the decision.

McLean told the Statesman that the morning of the day she asked for Lee’s resignation, she received a call from the Boise Police Department union leadership. During that call, she said, she learned that the union was also having conversations about Lee’s management style, and that some of the changes weren’t working.

“If those management interventions aren’t working, and we’re now sending a department head into an environment where employees and past employees are talking about these personnel issues publicly,” McLean told the Statesman, “I had to ask myself, can this chief continue to do the job that the community expects? The department needs? That I expect?”

That ultimately led to asking for Lee’s resignation, the mayor said.

McLean said the management conversations consisted of steps for how to communicate better, “executive coaching” and working to deliver policy changes that the City Council wanted.

“It wasn’t that the information in the KTVB story was particularly new,” city spokesperson Maria Weeg told the Statesman during the interview. “It was the change of environment brought on by the public airing of what are traditionally private personnel matters.”

McLean: OPA memo was ‘unauthorized by their ordinance’

In the interview with the Statesman, McLean took issue with Office of Police Accountability Director Jesus Jara’s decision to make a recommendation that “waded into personnel matters,” which the mayor said was “unauthorized by their ordinance.”

That memo “made a recommendation that was squarely in the (human resources) space, personnel space, which is not part of his authorization,” McLean said.

The city’s Office of Police Accountability ordinance, passed in July 2021, tasks the office with investigating complaints against Boise police employees, auditing internal affairs investigations and making policy recommendations “related to policing issues of significant public interest.”

The office’s purview includes citizen complaints, critical incidents — like police shootings — and allegations “that, if found to be true, would be a violation of federal, state, or local law, BPD policy, or Boise city policy.”

The mayor also questioned why a third party was asked to conduct a review. In the memo, Jara stated that the Office of Police Accountability could continue the investigation, but added that “the complexity of the concerns may demand a third-party firm” specializing in employment law and potentially hostile work environments.

“That’s a question some of us have, and that’s one of those policies and procedures we need to look at, because in every other instance, the office takes in information and does an investigation,” she said. “But instead, it wound up here.”

Complaints sent to several Boise departments

McLean said that on-duty officers were filing complaints through several departments like they were “venue shopping,” unlike other city employees who can file a complaint only through the Human Resources Department. Aside from Human Resources, Boise officers could potentially file complaints through the Office of Police Accountability, internal affairs or their supervisors.

“What we were finding was, it was just like venue shopping,” McLean said. “Complaints filed here, complaints filed here, complaints filed here, complaints filed here — and no other employee at the city of Boise gets to do that.”

Emails reviewed by the Statesman showed that the allegations against Lee were first reported by a Boise police supervisor to the Human Resources Department in January. McLean was notified of the allegations at least as early as April, email records showed.

The emails on the allegations and Jara’s memo were provided to the Statesman by a source after reporters could not obtain them through the city’s public records process. The city denied the Statesman’s records request for documents related to the allegations on Sept. 15 and Sept. 23. The city provided the Statesman with heavily redacted versions of some of the records on Thursday.

The Human Resources Department — according to a Feb. 9 email from Sarah Martin, an employee relations manager — recommended that the complaints be taken to internal affairs, which is overseen by Lee. This was after consulting with the city’s legal team, according to the email.

Martin in her email also wrote that if the supervisor has “concerns about the alleged treatment of others in the department, if those individuals believe their treatment violates city of BPD polices,” the employee should report the allegation to their supervisor, human resources, internal affairs or the Office of Police Accountability.

The decision to have internal affairs review the complaints didn’t come without pushback. In a Feb. 10 email from the Boise police supervisor, he wrote back to Martin that it was an ”obvious conflict of interest” to have internal affairs investigate the chief.

The Boise police supervisor said he brought the complaints to HR “to avoid any potential conflicts of interest” and to follow city policy.

McLean told the Statesman there is a need to create a “clear process” for on-duty officers to file complaints through a single venue against on-duty officers.

McLean also said she has directed through the city’s organizational development team to conduct an assessment of the Boise Police Department to know “what they need in terms of leadership” and in “terms of support.”

Details about the complaints

McLean told the Statesman the Office of Police Accountability received nine complaints about Lee, from a “department of nearly 400.”

The memo written by Jara, and reviewed by the Statesman, mentioned the office met with “nine individuals” who had complaints, including senior leaders. The memo also said the office was “tasked with collecting statements from numerous BPD employees.”

A Feb. 4 email showed at least a dozen complaints reported to just one of the nine individuals who spoke with Jara.

At the accountability office’s recommendation, a third-party firm reviewed the complaints and found that no crimes had been committed and no policy had been violated, the mayor said.

The mayor declined to say which law firm conducted the review, noting that the firm’s findings were “squarely in the personnel space,” and that they contain “a lot of identifying information about the officers.”

Some of those management interventions were based on recommendations from the firm’s review, which the mayor said her office did “immediately,” including by asking the chief and police leadership to begin “developing policies.” The mayor also “offered executive coaching,” she said.

Council members weren’t consulted before resignation

While the mayor consulted with City Council leadership on Sept. 23, the day McLean asked Lee to resign, she said she did not speak to each council member and wished she had.

“I know that council was frustrated I didn’t call them all individually,” she told the Statesman. “I wish I’d picked up the phone to the other four rather than just talking to leadership.” City Council leadership includes Council President Elaine Clegg and Council President Pro Tem Holli Woodings.

Shortly after the chief’s resignation, Council Member Luci Willits said she was “blindsided” by the news.

“I definitely wish I would have got a call that the mayor was asking the police chief to resign,” Willits told the Statesman by phone last week. “As a council member, I would have expected that courtesy.”

Council Members Patrick Bageant and Jimmy Hallyburton told the Statesman in phone interviews that they were “surprised” and “shocked.”

This story was originally published October 6, 2022 at 4:03 PM.

Ian Max Stevenson

Idaho Statesman

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Ian Max Stevenson covers state politics and climate change at the Idaho Statesman. If you like seeing stories like this, please consider supporting his work with a digital subscription. Support my work with a digital subscription

Alex Brizee

Idaho Statesman

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Alex Brizee covers criminal justice for the Idaho Statesman. A Miami native and a University of Idaho graduate, she has lived all over the United States. Go Vandals! In her free time, she loves pad Thai, cuddling with her dog and strong coffee. Support my work with a digital subscription