3 finalists are vying to be the next Boise police chief. Here’s how they’d approach it

As the city of Boise gets closer to picking its next chief of police, the finalists are making their case for why they’d be the best choice to build community trust in the agency.

The three candidates — Jeffery Bert, Chris Dennison and Tom Worthy — focused on their approach to community policing during an open house at the Boise Train Depot on Thursday and in interviews with the Idaho Statesman. The three out-of-state candidates in the past few days have participated in panel interviews, met the department’s officers and staff, and received a tour of the city.

In the Northwest, “people want to have a relationship with the police department,” Worthy, chief of the police department in The Dalles, Oregon told the Statesman in an interview. “If that’s the expectation, we have to have that mantra of ‘no call too small.’”

Boise Police Chief Ron Winegar took over the department at a turbulent time and will again retire in September after a nearly 30-year career with the agency. Boise Mayor Lauren McLean asked Winegar to come out of retirement and lead the department temporarily in October 2023, after McLean asked former Chief Ryan Lee to resign. She appointed Winegar to the position permanently in April 2023.

“I think it’s a good opportunity to get to know them and figure out who’s going to be the best fit for the Boise Police Department,” Winegar told the Statesman in an interview.

City officials narrowed the finalists down from a pool of 20 reviewed candidates. The salary range for the job is $190,000 to $213,000, according to Public Sector Search & Consulting , the recruitment firm hired by the city. Winegar makes $196,352, according to the Statesman’s salary database .

Boise police chief finalists emphasize community policing

After working for the Los Angeles Police Department for 24 years, Bert was hired to head the police department in Tomball, Texas, in June 2020. Bert said during Thursday’s event he has the “vision and wisdom” to know what matters most in policing, which is working with underserved communities.

Bert said he’s worked with youth programs and homelessness in Los Angeles, and worked in “really kind of difficult neighborhoods” where he tried to help make the community better.

“Yes, people are going to go to jail,” Bert said. “That isn’t always the answer. How can we prevent crime?”

He said when police departments work with residents who might have more negative associations with law enforcement, the first step is admitting that the “contentious relationship” exists. Bert pointed to Boise’s growing refugee population and said officers should be mindful that immigrants may have had difficult experiences with police.

Meanwhile, Worthy said his background and service in the Northwest give him an edge over his competitors for the job. Policing is “regional” in its approach and expectations, and he’s familiar with the region and its culture, he said in an interview. Worthy grew up in Pullman, Washington, and was hired to be the chief in The Dallas in 2021 after almost 30 years with Oregon State Police.

Worthy told the Statesman he publicly set goals for his department in The Dalles, including to “cement the department’s commitment” to 21st century policing. He told the Statesman he pushed his officers to form bonds with the residents, whether they were kids at the park or people experiencing homelessness, in their assigned patrol areas.

Worthy said Thursday that h e doesn’t have “any tolerance” for commanding officers and leaders who aren’t willing to address concerns and highlighted the importance of having systems of accountability in place. He said he uses a dashboard in Oregon to track officers’ uses of force, which allows him to see when intervention might be needed.

“We are not at war with the citizens. We are not in the military,” Worthy said. “We are civilian police officers out to protect our community.”

‘Eliminate or reduce police shootings’

All three of the candidates spoke about the ways they take care of their officers, from treating them with respect, to ensuring they receive training beyond the academy and take care of their well-being.

Bert also emphasized the importance of receiving the best training to help others who are in crises, whether that’s deescalation or mental health training.

“We really have to focus on educating our people,” Bert said.

Dennison, who has spent his entire career in Arizona and rose up through the ranks of the Tucson Police Department, told the Statesman law enforcement should meet its community members regularly and be transparent about its actions to gain trust.

“To build that trust with the community, you have to be open with them,” Dennison said during Thursday’s event “I would much rather air dirty laundry of an agency on my terms as opposed to doing it under public record requests.”

All three of the candidates said they want to release body camera footage of police shootings as soon as possible.

The Boise Police Department last year reached a decadeslong high with four fatal shootings, and critics have pushed the department to release investigative documents or footage more quickly. The department early this year created a webpage where that information is released once the investigation is finalized.

Dennison acknowledged that asking someone to wait six months before seeing the footage is a “long time to wait,” which is why his agency releases the footage after any of the officers involved in shootings have provided a statement about the incident. He told the Statesman that’s typically a few weeks or a month after the shooting.

Bert told the Statesman he hasn’t dealt with a police shooting while leading the Tomball Police Department, which serves a Houston suburb of roughly 11,000 people. But in Los Angeles, he said releasing the footage has shown the community “true transparency.”

In Oregon, Worthy told the Statesman prosecutors typically decide to have police shootings scrutinized by a grand jury. Officers from The Dalles Police Department were undergoing that process last week.

It’s also up to each agency in Oregon to decide whether the involved officers should be kept on administrative leave during the process, which Worthy said serves to protect both the officers and the community.

Worthy said in an interview he wants to “ eliminate or reduce police shootings” and, when they do happen, to review shootings thoroughly to ensure the officers were in compliance with the department’s policies.

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