Boise picks police oversight director, strives for ‘accountability’ amid shootings
Boise officials have hired a new police oversight director, eight months after firing the former director and following a spike in police shootings.
Nicole McKay, a former chief of staff and chief deputy in the Idaho Attorney General’s Office under Lawrence Wasden, was selected to direct the city’s Office of Police Accountability, according to a news release.
McKay was chosen by Mayor Lauren McLean, Council President Jimmy Hallyburton and Council Member Patrick Bageant, the release said.
The position requires City Council approval, which is scheduled to be taken up at Tuesday’s meeting.
“We sought out Nicole based on her 25 years providing legal, strategic and policy advice to elected officials and her commitment to transparency and accountability,” McLean said in the release. “After 17 years in the Attorney General’s office, Nicole had her pick of plum positions. I’m thrilled she is choosing to bring her time and talent to our Office of Police Accountability.”
McKay also previously served as chief legal counsel to the director of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, according to the release.
Boise police have been involved in six shootings since the start of the year, according to previous Statesman reporting. Three recent shootings — two in June and one in July — were fatal.
A fourth, in a parking lot in January, was also fatal.
Those six shootings eight months into 2023 are an increase from past years. There were three shootings last year and five in 2021, according to Statesman records.
A downtown shooting in June garnered significant public attention after the Boise Police Department released details that an officer had shot Payton Wasson, 22, after he “fled on foot,” according to police records. Wasson was shot in the head, the coroner’s report said.
The oversight office is tasked with ensuring accountability for the Boise Police Department by live-auditing police investigative work, reviewing completed investigations or conducing its own investigations.
The office also reviews complaints from citizens about police.
The city’s interim director, Nicole Schafer, has opted to review Boise police investigations into shootings rather than conducting her own through the oversight office. Schafer is also the criminal manager of the city attorney’s office.
A former Boise oversight director, Pierce Murphy, criticized the city for Schafer’s dual role, noting that prosecutors are part of the larger law enforcement apparatus.
He also said that auditing investigations was insufficient and that oversight offices should conduct their own investigations.
“The current situation hardly qualifies as independent, civilian oversight of law enforcement,” Murphy said in July.
The office’s former director, Jesus Jara, was fired in December for allegedly “conducting unauthorized surveillance” of the public, which McLean said violated the office’s rules. Jara has since sued the city and denied the city’s claims.
This story was originally published August 17, 2023 at 1:12 PM.
