Former Boise police captain’s words show much work is still needed to root out racism

The city of Boise needs to clean house following revelations that a former Boise police captain holds racist views.

According to an Idaho Statesman article Sunday, Matthew Bryngelson, who retired in August after nearly 24 years with the Boise Police Department, was scheduled to speak at a conference hosted by the American Renaissance, an organization known for its white supremacist views.

In a video and in writings now tied to Bryngelson, he expresses deeply racist and, frankly, disturbing views about African-Americans and “non-whites,” both as criminal suspects and as co-workers.

In his writings and the interview, Bryngelson generalizes that the worst crimes are committed by Blacks, and he characterizes Black police officers as lazy and doing the bare minimum.

The revelations about Bryngelson’s views illustrate just how much of a problem the city of Boise is contending with, when an officer who holds such abhorrent views can serve for more than two decades and rise to the level of captain.

The city of Boise needs to root out officers like Bryngelson and remove them from the department. Those kinds of attitudes have no place in society, let alone in a position of power such as a police officer.

We are encouraged to see Boise Mayor Lauren McLean is taking the situation seriously.

“That this officer served in this department for two decades is appalling,” she wrote in a statement released Monday morning. “We must ensure the public that the actions taken by this department were forthright and determine if this issue is pervasive within the department.”

Bryngelson gives police a bad name. It’s incumbent upon good officers everywhere to call out racists and remove them from their ranks.

Bryngelson’s views also cast a new light on how and why now-ousted Police Chief Ryan Lee was forced to resign, as Bryngelson was one of the main complainants against Lee, who is Asian-American.

Lee was asked to resign earlier this year after it was disclosed that nine officers, including Bryngelson, had filed complaints against Lee, leading at least six officers to retire early.

During his short tenure, Lee faced a series of accusations, including a tort claim that he had broken an officer’s neck during a demonstration of a neck restraint.

Other allegations were that Lee was abusive and unprofessional.

These allegations were serious and can’t be simply dismissed. The complaints against Lee include eight other officers, and it appears that Lee gave his detractors enough ammunition to bring him down. But we don’t know the details of those other complaints because the city has refused to release the report. An investigation by the Boise Office of Police Accountability is being hidden by the city of Boise.

Even though the Office of Police Accountability is supposed to be independent and transparent, it has been neither regarding the Lee investigation.

But now because of what we know about Bryngelson’s deplorable views on people who are not white, we can’t help but wonder if the complaints against Lee were tinged by racial bias.

To some, the fact that a high-ranking police officer holds racist views is hardly surprising. To others, though, it still stands as a shock.

For those who think we’ve moved beyond racism, that it is merely a thing of the past, this demonstrates that we’re far from the finish line.

We echo and support the efforts of McLean, who announced she is launching an investigation into the extent of racism in the Boise Police Department and to what extent it affected the work of Bryngelson.

“This is no time to consider circling the wagons and I will not tolerate anyone who tries to impede this investigation in any way,” McLean’s statement read. “And for those in BPD: if you cannot or will not cooperate fully and honestly, I suggest that now is the time to leave this department. And honestly, the profession.”

We second that and expect the results of her investigation to be made free to the public.

The city of Boise and the Boise Police Department have their work cut out for them in purging the ranks of people like Bryngelson.

But it’s work that’s necessary and well worth the effort.