Meet the Staff

The Office of the Community Ombudsman staff consists of the ombudsman, an investigative analyst, and five part-time, on-call investigators.  The office handles over a thousand citizen contacts a year, audits the police department's internal investigations, investigates critical incidents, investigates citizen complaints and appeals, resolves service quality inquiries, provides mediation, conducts community outreach, researches best practices in police policies and training, and works to continuously improve their own processes. It is possible to accomplish all of this because of the people on the staff.  Each one is truly dedicated to serving the community with integrity and dedication.

Pierce Murphy, Ombudsman
Mr. Murphy was appointed by the Mayor and the City Council on March 2, 1999, and began work on April 5, 1999.  Mr. Murphy has extensive experience in human resource management, facilitation, mediation and investigation.  Mr. Murphy earned a Master of Pastorial Studies degree in theology from Loyola University, New Orleans, Louisiana, a Master of Arts degree in Counseling Psychology from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce from Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California.  Mr. Murphy began his career in 1972, as a law enforcement officer with the City of Menlo Park in California.  Following his graduate studies and from 1986, until 1994, Mr. Murphy maintained an active Human Resource Management consulting practice with clients throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America.  In 1994, Mr. Murphy joined the Paper Division of the Boise Cascade Corporation as Manager of Human Resource Development.  He and his family make their home in Boise.

Jennifer Butler, Investigative Analyst
Ms. Butler joined the Office of the Community Ombudsman in July 2005.  Ms. Butler has a degree in Education and has taught in Idaho and Nevada, as well as, the Federated States of Micronesia where she served as a School and Community Coordinator in the United States Peace Corps.  Her experiences as a teacher and Peace Corps volunteer have enhanced her ability to work with a variety of individuals with diverse backgrounds.  Ms. Butler also has an extensive office environment background that makes her an asset to the position.  Her skills are an integral part of the process of our daily operations.  Ms. Butler and her husband reside in Boise.

Dennis Dunne, Senior Investigator (on-call)
Mr. Dunne began working in the ombudsman's office in 2005, as a volunteer.  In late 2005, early 2006, he served for four months as acting deputy ombudsman.  Mr. Dunne's expertise proved invaluable during this time and he now serves as an investigator with the office on a part-time basis.  Mr. Dunne received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California at Davis and a Master in Public Administration from the College of Notre Dame in Belmont, California.  He began his career in law enforcement in 1970, and retired in 2002, at a supervisory level.  He has experience working in patrol, traffic, personnel administration, investigations, and training.  Mr. Dunne also served as an in-service coordinator and instructor for the police academy, teaching Supervision, Field Training Officer, Background Investigation, and Driving and Force Options Simulator courses.  Mr. Dunne and his family currently live in Boise.

Najuma Henderson, Investigator (on-call)
Ms. Henderson comes to the Ombudsman’s Office with a law degree from Georgetown University and experience working for two different law enforcement oversight agencies in California.  She worked as a civilian investigator for the Berkeley Police Review Commission and then for the Office of the Inspector General for the Los Angeles Police Commission.

Verna Kessler, Investigator (on-call)
Ms. Kessler retired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation after over 20 years of service.  At the time of her retirement from the FBI, Ms. Kessler was working out of the Boise office.  She is a Certified Public Accountant with a specialty in financial forensics.  While at the FBI, Ms. Kessler investigated a wide variety of Federal crimes.  However, her specialty was in white collar crimes and complex fraud cases.

Dennis(Gus) Morgan, Investigator (on-call)
Mr. Morgan spent over 27 years in the United States Secret Service.  When he retired, Mr. Morgan was the Resident Agent in Charge of the Boise office of the Secret Service.  He also served honorably in the U. S. Army, including a tour of duty in Vietnam where he commanded a POW interrogation team and served as a military advisor.  Since retiring, Mr. Morgan has worked as a security advisor to private industry and a substitute teacher.

Judy Townsend, Investigator (on-call)
Ms. Townsend retired following 20 years of law enforcement service outside of Idaho. She worked in a variety of assignments, including patrol, training, crime analysis, community relations, and detectives.  The last eleven years of Ms. Townsend’s law enforcement career were spent investigating sex crimes and crimes against children.