Boise police are providing increased security for the mayor. What we know
The Boise Police Department is temporarily providing increased security for Boise Mayor Lauren McLean, a police spokesperson confirmed Monday.
The reason why wasn’t immediately clear and police spokesperson Haley Williams declined to share specifics. However, the increased security has come after right-wing provocateur and Eagle bar owner Mark Fitzpatrick offered a bounty for incriminating information about the mayor.
McLean did not request the increased security, her spokesperson, Emilee Ayers, said in an email.
On X, the official account of Fitzpatrick’s bar, the Old State Saloon, posted about the increased security and said it was because of the campaign for information leading to her arrest and conviction. The saloon’s account claimed that police had a car and an officer outside the mayor’s home 24/7. An Idaho Statesman reporter went by McLean's house Monday morning, and there did not appear to be any police vehicles outside.
“Nobody wants any physical harm to come to NotcLean, except maybe some soreness from a hard jail cell bed, assuming she is found guilty of a crime and convicted,” the Old State account wrote.
The bar’s account also complained at the potential cost of overtime for the increased security, and wrote “we have heard there have been zero threats of violence.” Williams, the police spokesperson, told the Statesman that regular resources are used before overtime work in all police operations.
Fitzpatrick, who was behind the poorly attended Hetero Awesome Fest in Boise in June, told the Statesman in a phone interview Monday that he didn’t want any violence. Any like-minded people who agree with him would value law and order over violent threats, Fitzpatrick said.
His reward for incriminating info was met with criticism from Boise Council Member Luci Willits, a conservative who told the Statesman it was “ridiculous.”
“If Idahoans want Boise to be led by a non-progressive, put your money into supporting an electable leader,” Willits previously told the Statesman.
Fitzpatrick previously told the Statesman that he plans to put energy toward elections, but just doing that wouldn’t get attention.
This isn’t the first time the Boise Police Department has provided McLean with increased security. McLean had a two-officer security detail for two years, ending in April 2023, according to previous Statesman reporting.
McLean said in 2022 that she had received violent threats. During the polarizing COVID pandemic years, protesters stood outside McLean’s home with torches, and a Canyon County man who wrote “Die McLean” on a bullet was sentenced for unlawfully possessing a firearm as well as assaulting a law enforcement officer.
This story was originally published December 22, 2025 at 1:04 PM.
