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Boise's Departing Ombudsman Says Public's Relationship With Police Has Improved

Pierce Murphy, City of Boise
City of Boise

The City of Boise’s longtime ombudsman is officially off the job.  Tuesday was Pierce Murphy’s last day. He was recently hired to serve in a similar capacity in Seattle.

Murphy joined the City of Boise in 1999, soon after the creation of the ombudsman role to help oversee the police department.

A series of events involving the Boise Police Department in the mid 1990s – including several officer-involved shootings – had eroded public trust in police.  Today, Murphy says residents and city leaders have a much better relationship with the BPD.

“I think it’s changed significantly, and I think it’s changed significantly for the positive,” Murphy says. “Obviously I’d like to think the work we did in the ombudsman’s office played a role and that we contributed to that positive improvement in the public support for the police and the police relationship with the public. But also, it was the result of hard work of a couple of police chiefs, certainly all the officers on the department, and elected officials.”

One of Murphy’s last duties in Boise was the release of last month’s reporton how well the city is doing to train its officers to deal with mental-health-related calls. Several officer-involved shootings led Murphy to look into the training officers receive. 

Boise’s mayor and city council recognized Murphy for his service at their meeting Tuesday night. They also appointed Dennis Dunne to serve as the city’s interim ombudsman. Dunne has been a senior investigator in the ombudsman's office.

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