A former Boston police officer whose colleagues beat him after mistaking him for a suspect is the town’s new police commissioner.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu launched Michael Cox, 57, as the brand new Commissioner of the town’s police division Wednesday. Cox returns to his hometown, the place he served in a number of roles within the division earlier than leaving in 2019 to grow to be the police chief in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Cox stated the introduction was an “emotional second” for him. He promised to work to diversify the police division whereas ensuring officers really feel supported of their jobs.
“I feel this can be a very thrilling time. I feel the officers want somebody to help them,” Cox informed reporters Wednesday. “And I’m going to be their greatest cheerleader.”
Cox, who was sworn in as a Boston police officer in 1989, rose by the division’s ranks to grow to be a part of the command workers; he additionally ran a number of models inside the division. In January 1995, Cox was working in a plainclothes unit when fellow officers mistook him for a suspect in a deadly taking pictures and beat him severely.
“It was humiliating what occurred to me,” Cox informed former Boston Globe reporter Dick Lehr for Lehr’s guide concerning the beating, The Fence: A Police Cowl-Up Alongside Boston’s Racial Divide. “There’s no purpose to deal with anybody like that. After which to simply go away them. And in the event that they do it to me—one other police officer—would they do it to a different individual in the event that they obtained away with it?”
Cox added the officers later tried to cowl it up however stated he selected to remain within the division and work to enhance issues.
“Since then, in 1995, I’ve devoted my life to creating positive that each the Boston police division and policing usually has grown and realized…to be sure that we’ve constructions and mechanisms in place to be sure that we by no means repeat that sort of incident in opposition to anybody,” Cox informed reporters Wednesday.
Cox takes over for Dennis White, who was fired final yr after home abuse allegations in opposition to him from 1999 surfaced. White denied the allegations however was positioned on go away simply days after being sworn in to the job.
Cox joins New York Metropolis Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, and Newark (NJ) Police Chief Darnell Henry as Black commissioners in giant Northeast cities.
