Interviews. Documents. Meetings. But few tips. Boise Police racism investigation persists
The team of lawyers hired to investigate potential racism at the Boise Police Department has conducted more than two dozen interviews and is reviewing city documents. As the investigation enters its third month, the lead attorney, Michael Bromwich, told the Idaho Statesman there is still significant work to do.
Lawyers from Steptoe & Johnson, a Washington, D.C. firm, have so far conducted more than 30 interviews and made two trips to Boise, Bromwich told the Statesman by phone.
The investigation began after revelations that a retired veteran police officer, Matt Bryngelson, had made racist online posts under a pseudonym.
In their work, investigators have met with and interviewed city officials and others, written memorandums of interviews, worked on a chronology and reviewed news stories.
At the end of January, the firm received documents it had asked for from the city and from the Police Department, Bromwich said, and Steptoe lawyers are examining those records.
The firm is also trying to interview former officers, and has found that locating some of them “is not that easy,” Bromwich said.
He added that he expects there to be “a significant additional number” of interviews, as well as subsequent interviews with people the firm has already spoken with if needed.
The firm’s investigation is focused on whether racism “infected” policing. Bromwich told the City Council in December that limiting the cost and length of such an investigation involves “exercising judgment” about what to pursue.
“We’ve got a lot of names of people, for example, that people have suggested we may want to talk to,” Bromwich told the Statesman on Thursday. “After we’ve made a little bit more progress in our investigation and talk to some more people, we’ll make decisions of which of them we think are important to talk to, and which of them would likely be duplicative or not additive to the investigation.”
Already, the firm has met with or interviewed a number of current police employees, including Interim Police Chief Ron Winegar; Deputy Chief Tammany Brooks; Capt. Spencer Fomby; and Kyle Wills, president of the officers’ union; according to an invoice submitted to the city. The firm has also spoken with Mayor Lauren McLean; her chief of staff, Courtney Washburn; the city attorney, Jayme Sullivan; council members Holli Woodings, Elaine Clegg, and Patrick Bageant; and former member Lisa Sánchez.
Outside of the city, the firm has spoken to Ada County Prosecutor Jan Bennetts; Ada County Public Defender Anthony Geddes; Beatrice Black, the director of the Women’s & Children’s Alliance; and Phillip Thomson, executive director of the Idaho Black History Museum and a member of a police department citizen advisory panel, according to the invoice.
The investigative team has so far not interviewed two former city employees who have sued the city, Tom Fleming and Jesus Jara. Neither they nor Bryngelson, who has also filed a complaint against the city alleging age and disability discrimination, have cooperated, Bromwich said.
Bromwich noted that, at the start of its investigation, the firm met with a number of city officials. Such meetings are different from the firm’s more formal interviews, which he said are typically conducted by a senior lawyer and a junior lawyer on the team.
Investigators have received ‘very few’ tips
Steptoe created a website for the investigation, which allows residents to submit tips. So far, Bromwich said the investigators have received “very few,” which he said is disappointing.
“If there are people out there who’ve had experiences that are relevant to our investigation, (we hope) they’ll let us know,” Bromwich said.
Firm has spent at least a third of its funds
Steptoe’s contract with the city is not to exceed $500,000. The firm has billed the city for about $149,467 for work done in the last month of the year, after beginning its work on Dec. 5. The invoice includes $143,196 in fees connected to 180 hours of work and $6,270 in expenses, including travel to Boise. The firm’s lawyers are billing at a rate of $825 per hour.
Eight attorneys have worked on the investigation, according to the invoice. Bromwich, a former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Justice, and Nailah Z. Ogle, a Los Angeles-based attorney for the firm, have spent the most time on it.
Bromwich said he wrote off about $20,000 of expenses on the invoice for work that he thought took longer than it should have.
He added that he expects his firm has worked more hours per month since December, as the labor in December did not begin on the first of the month.
If the firm were to invoice for similar amounts in January and February, most of its allotted funds will be used up by the end of this month.
“We’re keeping our eye on that very closely,” Bromwich said.
In a text message, City Council President Holli Woodings told the Statesman that, “at this point the council has no plans to allocate additional funds. If additional funds are deemed necessary by the mayor or council, they would go through an interim budget change process, and I anticipate there would be quite a bit of discussion by council members.”
This story was originally published February 18, 2023 at 4:00 AM.
