Boise police racism investigation outlined problems. What the law firm found

A three-month independent investigation into potential racism at the Boise Police Department did not find that racist ideologies were widespread, but identified wide-ranging problems with the department’s hiring practices, policies and promotions.

The investigators collected testimony from some minority officers of discrimination they had experienced, and laid out a picture of a police department that has long had lax training requirements and protected its own.

Michael Bromwich, an attorney with Washington, D.C. law firm Steptoe & Johnson, was hired by the city in December, after Mayor Lauren McLean was spurred to probe revelations that a veteran and recently retired commander at the Boise Police Department held white supremacist views.

In November, a Twitter account identified Matt Bryngelson, a 23-year Boise Police veteran, as having been booked as a speaker at a conference put on by an organization, called the American Renaissance, that is known for white supremacist views. In racist posts written pseudonymously as well as a video interview taped before his retirement, Bryngelson made several racist comments about Black people and other groups.

Bromwich on Tuesday detailed the work that he and his team of six other lawyers completed over the course of two trips to Boise and a number of remote interviews.

At the same time, Bromwich made clear that his firm had been expecting to receive more funds from City Hall and was unable to conduct much of its planned investigation, which would have included reviews of documents and further interviews.

Investigation criticizes how BPD promotes officers

Bromwich’s team focused on interviewing the leaders at Boise police and more than a dozen minority rank-and-file officers. In total, Bromwich said, he interviewed 18 current and former minority staffers at Boise police.

While about six current and former employees said they had experienced racism or discrimination, Bromwich said he did not find “any evidence” that there are “a large number of racists in the department.”

Some of those minority officers said they had experienced racism from the public “numerous times,” including being called the N-word, Bromwich said. He also noted that his firm is aware of two former officers who experienced racism internally, and that some officers felt their complaints about how they were treated were not taken seriously by leadership.

Had he had the resources, he said, he doubted that “even an exhaustive review of the documents that we obtained” would have determined otherwise.

Bromwich listed several key findings, including that Boise police should reform the way it investigates critical incidents, keep better training records, ensure officers record audio on their body cameras, and scrutinize its promotional practices.

Bromwich detailed numerous complaints from within the department about Bryngelson that officers had anonymously written in surveys when he was promoted as sergeant in 2009 and as lieutenant in 2019. Some officers called him lazy, described him as rude to the public, and said he was unable to keep personal dislike for other officers out of his professional decisions. He was also accused of being “liked but not respected by his peers.”

Bromwich criticized Ada County’s Critical Incident Task Force, which reviews events like officer-involved shootings and typically has a separate local police department lead the interview. Bromwich said that setup primes the investigations to take longer, because they are a lower priority for the outside department than its own business.

He also said internal investigations into such incidents should happen concurrently with criminal investigations, rather than afterward. Otherwise, internal investigations must wait until after the critical incident team and the Ada County prosecutor complete their work, which can take months or years. Bromwich said it’s a mistake to wait that long if there is “internal justice” and discipline that needs to happen.

Investigation identified improvements under Lee

Bromwich noted multiple instances when he said department policy improved under former Chief Ryan Lee, who resigned at McLean’s request in September after several officers complained about him.

Bromwich said that Lee and Capt. Spencer Fomby, who directed the department’s training and also departed recently, made the academy’s training more difficult after a decade during which no officers failed out of the program.

“Lee is a very knowledgeable guy about policing,” Bromwich said. He noted that Lee had also improved the department’s body camera policy by requiring officers to record audio on their cameras.

Bromwich said Lee gave the department a “gift” by bringing in outsiders who are now on the command staff. Bromwich said those new leaders have had a “tonic effect” on the department, gaining the respect of the rank-and-file by showing that they “know what they’re talking about.”

Lee, who is Chinese American, came to the department from Portland in 2020 and brought into the fold Capts. Jeff Niiya and Jim Quackenbush — both of whom had worked in Portland — during his tenure. The deputy chief, Tammany Brooks, was also hired in 2021 from Antioch, California.

Complaints from within the department surfaced prominently last fall, notably in a KTVB article that described accusations lodged by nine officers against Lee. The specifics of all of the complaints have not been made public, but a prominent character in the article — who claimed he left because of Lee — was Bryngelson, the officer whose racist posts led to Bromwich’s investigation.

Another officer, Kirk Rush, had previously accused Lee of injuring his neck during a training exercise, which resulted in a criminal investigation that narrowly rejected recommending criminal charges against Lee.

Within days of the complaints becoming public, McLean asked Lee to resign.

In describing the “clubby” atmosphere within the department, Bromwich said the former chief had been pushed out.

“In the interviews that we conducted, I discerned a respect for Chief Lee and his background, and that he had a lot to teach,” Bromwich said. “I think there were some issues related to his leadership style … but it’s quite clear to me in light of all the complaints that were filed, seemingly in a very orchestrated way, that they wanted him gone and they achieved their goal.”

Investigation lacked funds to complete work

Despite its findings, Bromwich’s team was unable to review any department documents or complete its planned interviews because it ran out of funds.

Despite asking for and receiving 105,000 documents, the firm was unable to review any of them. It also couldn’t review body camera footage of Bryngelson’s interactions with the public, his correspondence or his file with the Office of Internal Affairs, which included a “large number” of complaints. That included 11 complaints that had been sustained, meaning that internal reviewers found sufficient evidence to prove the allegations.

Bromwich said he delivered his findings “without a high level of confidence.” He called documentary evidence a “cornerstone” of any complete investigation.

The firm also did not have a chance to reach out to some community groups, look into concerns Lee had raised about racial discrimination in hiring, or talk to white officers about their attitudes toward efforts to diversify the department. The firm did not come “even close” to asking Lee all of the questions it had.

Of the two former officers who the firm learned had experienced racism, Bromwich said they were unable to find one of them, while another was found but could not be interviewed before the work stopped.

“We had hoped and believed that the funding we were originally afforded would be augmented later on,” he said. Bromwich said the firm canceled a third trip in early March, out of concern that it was approaching the limit of its allocated funds.

The investigation went on hold in early March because of the funding limitations. It was not until April 21 that McLean notified Bromwich that she did not want to authorize more work, Bromwich said.

Bromwich said he “was very upfront with the city” about his estimate of the costs, which he said “vastly exceeded the $500,000 figure.”

“Frankly, I would have been happier if I was told at the outset, ‘We can’t afford that,’ and we would have gone our separate ways,” he said.

Under the terms of the contract, the Steptoe lawyers agreed to be paid a combined rate of $825 per hour, which Bromwich noted is less than half his normal rate.

Bromwich responded to criticisms of the investigation’s cost, including an Idaho Statesman editorial, and listed examples of recent national independent investigations — as well as those he has conducted into other departments — that cost millions of dollars.

“The idea that we were hiding the ball, or we were inflating the cost, or we were taking advantage of the city of Boise is not only wrong, it’s offensive,” he said.

Later on Tuesday, the council approved an additional $150,000 to cover the remaining costs of the investigation, bringing the total amount expended to $650,000.

Council members, mayor respond

After the presentation, McLean said she felt the department deserves to have its “name cleared,” and that she is confident Bromwich’s recommendations can be addressed “with existing resources and the teams in place.”

In an interview with the Statesman, Chief Ron Winegar said he plans to quickly review the recommendations and discuss how to make any necessary changes.

“What is the number you put on knowing whether an avowed and self-proclaiming white supremacist is the only one?” Council Member Patrick Bageant said. “We got far more than $500,000 worth of benefit out of this.”

Council Member Luci Willits, the council’s only Republican member, voted against authorizing the extra funds and said the city should have put out a bid for the investigation to see if other firms could have done it for less.

Council Member Colin Nash said Bromwich’s skills and expertise are “probably unmatched.”

“I think we hired the right guy, and I think we got the information that we need to take action going forward,” he said.