The Ada County Sheriff’s Office has contracted with a private company to produce edited versions of body camera footage from officer-involved shootings — and the communications between the agency and that firm are being conducted through a private chat app that falls outside Idaho’s public records law, raising transparency concerns for Boise and Ada County residents.
The Gaver Shooting: What the Full Footage Shows
The arrangement came to light in connection with a January 24, 2024, incident on Amity Road in Southwest Boise, when ACSO deputies stopped 37-year-old Jeremiah Gaver during a patrol contact that lasted roughly 40 minutes before turning violent. During the encounter, Gaver stabbed two K-9s deployed by officers. After attempts to subdue him with bean bag rounds and a Taser failed, five officers from both ACSO and the Boise Police Department fired on Gaver, striking him nine times. Gaver survived. No officers were injured.
The full incident from the initial stop to the shooting spanned approximately 37 minutes. An Owyhee County prosecutor later cleared all officers of criminal wrongdoing. The Boise Police Department’s Office of Police Accountability also cleared the officers but raised questions about the number of responders on scene and the absence of a crisis negotiator.
ACSO posted the edited version of the body camera footage to YouTube. That video runs just 13 minutes — roughly a third of the actual incident duration. Among the content cut from the publicly released version: more than 15 separate moments in which Gaver expressed fear that he would be shot by officers. One exchange preserved in the full footage includes a deputy saying, “Hey man, it’s Deputy Faddis right here. How about I give you my word that I will not kill you if you just walk back to me with your hands up in the air.”
A Private Company Controlling the Narrative
Three months after the Gaver incident, ACSO signed a contract with a California-based company called Critical Incident Videos, which specializes in producing polished, edited releases of police use-of-force footage. The contract was signed in April 2024, and since then the company has produced five videos for the sheriff’s office at a cost of $6,000 per video.
The transparency problem goes beyond what ends up on YouTube. Communications between ACSO and Critical Incident Videos are conducted through a private chat application controlled by the company — not through county email or any system subject to the Idaho Public Records Act. That means taxpayers and journalists cannot request those discussions to determine how editing decisions are made, what footage is flagged for removal, or what direction ACSO provides to the company.
ACSO spokesperson Emily Walker defended the editing process, saying the agency takes care to ensure that edits do not change the substance or context of any incident. She described the arrangement as more cost- and time-efficient than handling video editing in-house.
What It Means for Ada County Taxpayers and Accountability
The use of a third-party vendor to shape the public presentation of officer-involved shootings raises substantive questions about government accountability in Ada County. When agencies outsource public communications functions to private companies operating on closed platforms, the paper trail that would normally exist under Idaho public records law disappears. Residents, journalists, and elected officials have no way to examine how editing decisions are made or whether the final product accurately represents what occurred.
The edited Gaver video is a concrete example. The removal of more than 15 instances in which Gaver stated fear of being shot could reasonably affect public understanding of the psychological dynamics of the encounter — particularly given that the BPD accountability office separately questioned tactical decisions made that day. Similar transparency concerns have arisen in other high-profile law enforcement situations across the Treasure Valley. Meridian Police also faced public scrutiny following a shooting at an Eagle Road IHOP, where community questions about officer response prompted review.
The Ada County Sheriff’s Office has not indicated any plans to change its contracting arrangement or move communications to systems subject to public records disclosure.
What Comes Next
Ada County residents who want to weigh in on law enforcement transparency practices can contact the Ada County Board of Commissioners, which oversees ACSO’s budget and contracts. Questions about the Idaho Public Records Act and how to submit records requests can be directed to the Idaho Attorney General’s Office, which provides guidance on public records compliance for government agencies. The sheriff’s office has not publicly addressed whether future use-of-force video contracts will require communications to be conducted through county-controlled systems.