A D.C. firm will investigate possible Boise Police Department racism — for a hefty fee
Boise expects to pay up to $500,000 on an investigation into whether racism has tainted the city’s police department after revelations last month that a retired captain who spent two decades with the department holds white supremacist views.
Mayor Lauren McLean picked prominent Washington, D.C., attorney Michael Bromwich, with Steptoe and Johnson, to lead the investigation. Bromwich has extensive experience with oversight, having served as the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Justice and as a court-appointed monitor of Apple. He also led an extensive investigation into corruption at the Baltimore Police Department and is a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Bromwich’s firm is expected to commence its investigation this month and complete it by the end of 2023, according to a contract with the city.
Other attorneys at the firm, including Julia Gatto and William Drake, will likely assist with the investigation, according to the contract.
The lawyers involved will be paid $825 per hour up to a total of $500,000 over the entire year of review, the contract states. Other hourly workers, including paralegals, could make up part of that total, according to a letter from Bromwich to city officials.
The outside counsel is tasked with investigating whether city resources were used to further retired Capt. Matt Bryngelson’s racist statements and whether racism “infected” his interactions with the public or his colleagues. The firm also will review whether “racist ideology runs deeper in (the department),” according to the contract.
“The investigation will examine the role of (Boise police) leadership, if any, in condoning, allowing, or concealing racist beliefs or actions in the department,” the contract states.
In November, observers located racist blog posts written under a pseudonym, which were linked back to the retired captain. In a video interview, Bryngelson, using the same pseudonym, repeated many of those same beliefs, including that Black and Hispanic people are predisposed to commit violent crime.
The revelation disturbed Boise leaders, although some, including City Council Member Lisa Sanchez, said they were not shocked.
In public comments, McLean has put police officers on notice that if they will not cooperate with the investigation, they should leave.
A spokesperson for the union that represents Boise officers, Cpl. Brian Holland, previously told the Statesman that union members felt like McLean was associating the whole department with Bryngelson.
At a Wednesday news conference, Holland, who is Black, said the union is working to move forward in unity with the mayor, but said members would have preferred to have an internal investigation.
“We believe there’s offices designed for that,” he said.
Boise has an Office of Police Accountability, which is charged with investigating citizen complaints and auditing the department. On Friday, the department’s director, Jesus Jara, was placed on administrative leave because of “lack of confidence in the actions of the office,” according to a news release from the mayor’s office.
This story was originally published December 2, 2022 at 7:25 PM.
