Retired Boise police captain tied to white supremacist website posts, conference

A retired Boise police captain — one of multiple officers who brought forward allegations about former Chief Ryan Lee — was scheduled to speak at a conference this weekend held by an organization known for white supremacist views.

Matthew Bryngelson, who retired in August after nearly 24 years with the Boise Police Department, appeared on the American Renaissance Conference speaker list under the apparent pseudonym Daniel Vinyard.

American Renaissance is a website and former print magazine that founder Jared Taylor characterizes as “race realist.” Posts on the site focus on white superiority and arguments that people of color are inherently less intelligent than white people and contribute more to crime and other societal ills.

The conference was held in person in Burns, Tennessee, where local faith leaders denounced the gathering.

Blog posts that appear to be authored by Bryngelson include him recounting the point in his police career when he “became aware of the violent tendencies of Blacks.” Bryngelson did not return a phone call or text from the Idaho Statesman.

This comes nearly two months after Boise Mayor Lauren McLean asked Lee to resign in light of multiple complaints from officers, along with an investigation into allegations that Lee injured a subordinate officer in a neck restraints demonstration last year. Lee is Chinese-American.

Bryngelson’s involvement in the conference sparked backlash online, when Twitter user Molly Conger posted a thread Saturday depicting the speaker list and other ties to American Renaissance. The thread, which has garnered over 1,000 retweets and 4,000 likes, brought Bryngelson’s involvement with the white supremacist group to the Idaho Statesman’s attention.

On the conference webpage, he’s described as “a retired, race-realist police officer with 30 years of experience, including gang enforcement, SWAT, and narcotics detective.” An accompanying photo of Bryngelson, who appears to be wearing his Boise Police Department uniform, is on the webpage. According to a tweet his photo appeared blacked out when the conference was first announced prior to his retirement.

In a statement Sunday afternoon, Boise Mayor Lauren McLean called Bryngelson’s participation in the conference and contributions to American Renaissance “racist, dehumanizing propaganda.”

“The fact that such an individual could serve in the department for two decades is appalling,” McLean said. “The people of Boise deserve a police department worthy of their investment and trust, and we are launching a full investigation accordingly.”

McLean asked any Boise resident with concerns or information to contact her office at 208-972-8520 or via email at mayormclean@cityofboise.org. She also said that more information would be available in the next couple of days.

The Statesman confirmed Bryngelson’s involvement in the conference from a public official who knows him, and confirmed that he’s Vinyard by viewing a video in which he calls himself that.

Bryngelson appeared on white supremacist website prior to retirement

Bryngelson appears to have been affiliated with American Renaissance prior to his retirement from the Boise Police Department. In a video on the group’s website, Bryngelson is introduced under the Daniel Vinyard pseudonym, a name shared by a neo-Nazi skinhead character in the 1998 film “American History X.”

In the hourlong video, which was posted in September but is date-stamped May 8, Bryngelson is interviewed by Taylor. At the start of the video, Taylor states how unusual it is to speak to an “acting” or “serving” police officer.

Bryngelson tells Taylor stories from his career and his interactions with Black people, whom he characterizes as criminals whose crimes “the sound human mind can’t even comprehend … let alone carry them out.”

“That’s strong talk,” Taylor responds.

At one point, Bryngelson uses a transphobic slur to describe someone.

The men later discuss cases of Black men killed by police officers — including Michael Brown and George Floyd — and argue that those killings would not have occurred if Black people complied with police.

Bryngelson laments that police public image has led to difficulty hiring and retaining police officers. This is also the subject of his talk at the conference, titled, “The Vilification of the Police and What it Means for America.”

Two blog posts appear on the American Renaissance website under the Vinyard pseudonym. The first, published June 14, 2021, describes the author as a sheriff’s deputy in the Northeast, though in the subsequent post and the video Vinyard says he works in the Northwest.

The initial blog is titled “Can a White Cop Be a Victim of Microaggressions?” Microaggression is a term used to refer to day-to-day incidents of discrimination.

The post talks about two city council members who the author claims ignored him to “fawn” over a Black lieutenant.

The second post, published on July 31, 2021, details Vinyard’s “career as a white police officer.” The experiences mirror the history Bryngelson shared with Taylor in the video.

The author describes growing up and starting his career in southern California before moving to a predominantly white Northwest city 22 years ago.

“I picked the location because it was mostly white,” the author said, adding that “the overwhelming majority” of officers who relocated “came to escape black violence and rear their children in an area where they won’t be subjected to ‘diversity’ in the schools and violence in their neighborhoods.” The Boise Police Department is 92.2% white, which relatively mirrors a city that is 88% white.

The author characterized Black people and other people of color as violent drug users with a propensity for crime. The author claimed Black police officers, including those at the Northwest agency, were underachievers whose white counterparts ranked above them.

Emails, news interview detail tensions with Lee

Bryngelson retired from the Boise Police Department in August alleging that he “couldn’t physically do it anymore,” according to KTVB, which initially published an article publicizing the complaints against Lee.

“I was torn because I was so dedicated to the city and the community and the 110 or so officers that I was the captain over,” Bryngelson told KTVB. “But I just couldn’t physically do it anymore. It was ruining my life.”

Sometime between February and April, nine Boise police officers met with Office of Police Accountability Director Jesus Jara regarding the allegations against Lee.

The complaints alleged that Lee retaliated against officers, made derogatory comments about residents and brought “substandard training” to the department.

A Boise police employee, in an Feb. 4 email to human resources, alleged that Lee was “abusive and unprofessional” toward Bryngelson, who also alleged that Lee called him “stupid” or “dumb.”

The emails on the allegations were provided to the Statesman by a source after reporters could not obtain them through the city’s public records process. City Hall denied the Statesman’s records request for documents related to the allegations on Sept. 15 and Sept. 23.

Bryngelson allegedly had a mental health breakdown in September 2021 and was described by the employee as being “manic” and in a “suicidal state.”

“It was obvious to me that Captain Bryngelson would commit suicide if I did not place him on a mental hold,” the employee wrote in the email to human resources in February.

That same email alleged that one officer heard Lee call Boise citizens “hucklebucks” and “racist.” The email also alleged that Lee called Boise State University “a racist institution.”

This comes after a lawsuit filed against the city by former Boise Internal Affairs Capt. Tom Fleming, who alleged that he was discriminated and retaliated against by Lee.

“I will tell you flat out I was not involved in that,” Fleming told the Statesman by phone Sunday regarding Bryngelson. He declined to comment further.

The Statesman expected to speak with Bryngelson and Fleming in late September after the KTVB article was published, but they later backed out after retaining an attorney.

Bryngelson was the host of the Boise Police Department’s weekly “BPD Beat” podcast from Jan. 14 to Aug. 4. He interviewed other officers, civilians and community members on the podcast, with episodes ranging from Boise Police support of LGBTQ Pride events to the department’s liaison with the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community.