Thursday, 4:30 PM
Boston mayor to name new police chief
By Brian McGrory and Suzanne Smalley, Globe Staff
Mayor Thomas M. Menino is poised to name longtime Lowell Police Superintendent Edward Davis, a strong proponent of community policing, as the next police commissioner of Boston, two advisers connected to City Hall said Sunday.
Davis, who engineered a drop in violent crime of more than 50 percent in Lowell over the past dozen years by pushing officers to walk beats, received the offer over the weekend, said the advisers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to allow the mayor to make the public announcement.
That announcement has been scheduled for Monday.
The decision ends an extremely secretive, highly structured, and widespread search that, in the end, focused largely on finalists outside of the Boston Police Department — a sign that Menino is looking for aggressive change at police headquarters during one of the bloodiest years in his tenure as mayor.
Among others strongly considered by the mayor, according to the advisers, were Charles Ramsey, police chief of Washington, D.C., and Bernard Melekian, police chief in Pasadena, Calif. Ramsey, who is black, was hesitant to leave Washington and was never offered the job.
Menino also seriously considered two ranking Boston Police Department insiders — Robert Dunford, the head of patrol, and Paul Joyce, who leads all investigative units, one of the advisers said.
Menino, reached by phone last night, declined to comment.
In Davis, 50, Menino has selected a leader from the new school of police executives, someone who believes preventing crime is more effective than rapidly responding to it. Davis has given more authority to the patrol officers who deal regularly with the community, encourages ranking officers to voice their opinions, and demands that all members work with other city agencies — the inspectional services and public works departments, for example — to clean up neighborhoods. He also has instituted crime-tracking analysis of the kind made famous by William Bratton while Bratton was police commissioner in New York in the 1990s.
Davis, a 6-foot-6-inch, 28-year veteran of the force, is the son of a Lowell police officer. His brother works as a Lowell police sergeant. His wife is the daughter of a Tewksbury officer.
‘‘He’s only from 20 miles down the road, but that makes him an outsider with a great deal of knowledge of the political and justice systems here,’’ one mayoral adviser said Sunday.
Reached last night on his cellphone, Davis declined to comment. But in an interview with a Globe reporter in July, he summed up part of his philosophy and strategy: ‘‘Criminals get comfortable. We took that away by being highly visible on the street and cracking down on the small things. It was interesting to see how the number of felonies would go down in a neighborhood where we ticketed more for moving violations.’’
In coming to Boston, Davis will take over a department nearly 10 times larger than the Lowell department. But he came highly recommended by past and present US attorneys in Massachusetts as well as state Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly. And Menino nearly named Davis commissioner when the job was last open in 2004.
During his 12 years running the Lowell Police Department, Davis increased the department’s personnel from 159 to 260, though it has recently slipped to 244 amid tough budgetary times. At one point, the city went 365 days without a homicide, though murders have spiked from two last year to 11 this year. Police have made arrests in 10 of them.
Davis has forged close bonds with community activists, including Lowell’s burgeoning Cambodian population.
‘‘I’d like to say a lot of good things about Chief Davis,’’ said Conrad Gauthier, of the Centralville Neighborhood Action Group in Lowell. ‘‘He always makes sure police officers attend all the neighborhood meetings. He’ll answer any questions. He’s very accessible. I’ve called him and had him personally pick up the phone.’’
At the same time, Davis has quarreled with members of the Lowell City Council over his desire to fund officers’ training trips, and he has feuded with the city manager over spending drug forfeiture proceeds.
Menino’s choice of Davis comes as crime is soaring in Boston and as longtime department observers describe fraying relations between the police department and the community.
Last year, Boston hit a 10-year high in homicides, and this year the city is on pace to end with an even bloodier toll. The city has recorded 60 homicides to date, compared with 58 at this point last year. Meanwhile, many city residents have said state and federal funding cuts have resulted in a dangerous lack of police presence. One community leader in Dorchester has filed suit against the city for the low staffing levels.
In May, Menino appointed Albert Goslin, the former head of the Bureau of Internal Investigations, to lead the department as an acting commissioner. Goslin took over as Kathleen M. O’Toole prepared for her July departure for Ireland, where she is serving as inspector general of the 12,000-member national police force. Before taking the acting role, Goslin said his plan was to retire soon.
Menino asked David D’Alessandro, the former head of John Hancock, to head an advisory panel to find a new commissioner. D’Alessandro quietly traveled the nation talking with police executives. He and the rest of the four-member board winnowed the search, until Menino personally met with about half a dozen candidates.
