Boise’s police accountability director was just fired. Here’s what we know
Over seven days, Boise’s police oversight director, Jesus Jara, was placed on leave and then fired. Since then, questions have been swirling around what caused city leaders to question his judgment.
Interviews with city leaders, the union, and records obtained by the Idaho Statesman shed light on what led to the decision. Here’s what we know.
Who is Jesus Jara?
Jara, 42, was appointed in June 2021 and he was confirmed by the City Council in August of that year.
He came with more than 15 years of experience in “human resources and training and development” at nonprofits and for governments, according to a city news release. Before he was appointed director, Jara worked in human resources in Benton County, Oregon.
Jara had previously worked as an investigative analyst with a former iteration of the accountability office, called the Office of Police Oversight. He also had worked at the city’s human resources department.
What is his office supposed to do?
The accountability office, which was created the summer Jara was appointed, is meant to independently review internal police investigations of citizen complaints about police as well as critical incidents, which the accountability director can provide “on-scene monitoring of.” The office can also review criminal or other investigations into critical incidents, according to city law.
Critical incidents are defined as officer-involved shootings, use of deadly or severe force, and vehicle pursuits or collisions that result in serious injury.
Who oversaw his work?
The accountability office is unusual because, unlike most city departments, it reports to the mayor and council, rather than just the mayor. There is one other office, the Internal Auditor, that reports only to the council.
Since the Office of Police Accountability was created, Council President Elaine Clegg and Mayor Lauren McLean have served as its overseers, and have met about once a month, Clegg told the Statesman by phone.
That changed earlier this fall, when the council decided to have a larger number of its members oversee the office after Jara told police officials that he watched body-camera videos, a statement then shared with McLean, who became concerned.
“It became clear that we’d probably be better served to follow the same model that we follow” with the internal auditor, Clegg said.
On Nov. 1, Council Members Holli Woodings and Jimmy Hallyburton were added as overseers. The council subcommittee also decided to step up meetings with the office, to twice a month.
How does Jara say he used body cameras?
Jara was watching officer body camera footage as a part of his work.
In a March presentation, as first reported by BoiseDev, Jara told the City Council about his office’s activities and mentioned that he had conducted 19 reviews of “random on-body video.”
“We have access to now even live auditing,” Jara said then. “We have a live screen where we can see what’s happening (with police) in the city, and we’re just constantly putting an eye on it just to see what the heartbeat is. And when we see something that requires a lot of activity or a lot of police presence, we want to look at that, so the next day we pull it up and see how that played out.
Clegg told the Statesman that her understanding of Jara’s March presentation was that the accountability office was auditing how body cameras were used by police, not that the office was frequently reviewing actual body camera footage.
“While it was called a body cam audit (in that March meeting), my understanding of that was much different than what we learned was actually happening,” Clegg said.
Why was he fired?
Jara was fired Friday in a 5-1 vote by the City Council after McLean alleged the former police oversight director was “conducting unauthorized surveillance of community members.”
In recent months, city leaders had begun to question whether some of Jara’s conduct as director was not consistent with how the office should be run.
In October or November, Jara met with Deputy Chief Tammany Brooks and Capt. Jeff Niiya and told them that he had been watching body camera footage of general police activity, McLean’s spokesperson, Maria Weeg, told the Statesman by phone.
One or both of those police leaders told McLean what Jara had said, after which the city restricted Jara’s access to body cam footage.
At the Nov. 22 meeting, Jara told McLean and council members that he had reviewed over 8,000 “random” body cam videos since the fall of 2021, according to the meeting notes.
It’s unclear exactly when his access was revoked. Weeg told the Statesman it was on Nov. 15. But emails from the Boise police union obtained by the Statesman through a source said the access was rescinded on Dec. 2.
Clegg said the accountability office is not meant to decide for itself whether a critical incident has occurred. Rather, the Police Department is supposed to notify the accountability office when such an event happens, after which the office can begin a review.
What exactly was the problem with what he did?
“I believe he was effectively exploiting his access for audits to the system by randomly viewing over 8,000 videos, almost exclusively without cause,” McLean said in a statement Friday.
“I’m deeply concerned about the invasion of privacy this unauthorized surveillance constitutes,” she said. ”Our residents are often at their most vulnerable when they call the police to intervene when other measures have fallen short.
“This is what is important to remember: the body cam footage captures — first and foremost — the people our officers are interacting with. Parents trying to protect their kids, women experiencing domestic violence, people in vulnerable situations. If the public believed that there was a chance that they’d be watched — at random — if they called the police, would they be less likely to call when they need help? ...
“Our community deserves to know those interactions, while recorded, are protected unless and until there is a compelling reason for a stranger to view the interaction. The intrusion of privacy caused by a director acting outside the bounds of the ordinance authorizing his work is untenable.”
Is this related to the firing of Chief Lee?
Jara’s firing comes months after McLean faulted Jara for recommending that former Police Chief Ryan Lee be placed on leave during an investigation of his conduct and said Jara’s actions were “unauthorized by their ordinance.”
A day after Jara’s recommendations were publicized, McLean asked for Lee’s resignation.
Weeg declined to comment on whether Jara’s recommendation was connected to his being placed on leave. It’s clear, however, that the city made this decision after learning about other issues, including body cameras.
Weeg also declined to comment on any connection between Jara and the investigation into retired Capt. Matthew Bryngelson, who authored racist articles.
READ: Retired Boise police captain tied to white supremacist website posts, conference
Why did one council member vote against firing him?
Lucy Willits, the only Republican on the City Council, said there may be problems with the ordinance, and she could not “in good conscience” vote to fire Jara.
“What we’ve seen in the last couple months is that there’s lots of things that have come up in the public where our policies do not align with what we want,” Willits told reporters. “It’s very clear to me that the city of Boise has a lot of work to do to make sure that the Office of Police Accountability, that our chief, that the leadership all are on the same page when it comes to what we expect of police.”
Asked whether Jara’s review of 8,000 videos was inappropriate, Willits said she didn’t necessarily think so, later adding that she thinks there is a lot of “murkiness” in the ordinance.
“In my own research, I found that many of the police officers in our force expect that that camera footage is going to be viewed,” she said.
Boise police spokesperson Haley Williams told the Statesman by email that the department responds to roughly 130,000 calls for service annually — which means that there could be “several hundred thousand” body camera videos a year.
Willits added that other state agencies review body cam footage, and referred to the March meeting where council was informed of Jara’s conduct.
“The council had an inkling of this eight months ago; this wasn’t new information,” she said. “(Jara) had tried to be as transparent as possible.”
What does Jara say?
“Mr. Jara is dismayed by today’s bold and blatant act of retaliation in violation of Idaho’s whistleblower laws, which threatens the foundations upon which the Office of Police Accountability was built,” said Jara’s lawyer, Grady Hepworth, in a news release.
“Mr. Jara has at all times acted in accordance with the duties and authority bestowed upon him by city ordinance and regulation, and stands by every difficult decision he was responsible for making as director of the Office of Police Accountability,” the statement said.
Willits said Jara had refused to resign. Hepworth confirmed that.
Hepworth’s law office also represents a retired Boise police captain, Tom Fleming, who has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the city.
“Mr. Jara is inspired by the courage exhibited by the members of BPD who risked their careers in order to speak truth to power, and remains steadfast in his belief that integrity, accountability, and diligence will ultimately prevail over deceit, incompetence, and shortsighted political convenience,” Hepworth’s statement said.
READ: Retired Boise police captain files lawsuit against city, alleges wrongdoing by ex-chief
What happens next?
1. City leaders will review city law and the office. Clegg said she’s not convinced city law needs to be updated, but the city still plans to review it.
Steptoe and Johnson, a Washington, D.C. law firm recently hired to investigate potential racism at the Police Department, will also review what oversight models used around the country work best.
The subcommittee overseeing police accountability plans to meet next week.
“We don’t want this to disrupt activity in the office,” Clegg said. “We want to make sure that our citizens still know if they have a complaint, they have a place to go, and that the office is up and running.”
2. Officers will continue doing their jobs. ”The union body sympathizes anytime somebody from the city is terminated,” Boise Police Cpl. Brian Holland, a spokesperson for the union, told the Statesman by phone. “But we do look forward to a full investigation into the circumstances leading up to and surrounding his termination and then we want those facts made available.”
Holland added that no matter all the “stuff swirling around,” officers will do their jobs.
3. Jara may sue. Hepworth said a lawsuit is forthcoming.
This story was originally published December 10, 2022 at 4:00 AM.
