New commissioner vows strong community policing

Edward F. Davis, Boston's next police commissioner, vowed yesterday to use community policing to battle a rise in violent crime and pledged to restore public trust in a department whose image is in tatters after a series of corruption and criminal charges against officers.

"I value hard work, but I also value honesty and integrity, and I have to make sure that that is uppermost in the officers' minds," said Davis, who will start on the job Dec. 1.

He said in an interview that he can bring his high-visibility style of policing to Boston without a large number of new officers. "The mayor has talked to me about increasing the numbers . . . but I have made a commitment to him to manage the resources I have."

Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who officially announced the appointment at a press conference at City Hall yesterday, touted Davis's track record, years of experience, and commitment to community policing. Davis, 50, is credited with cutting violent crime in Lowell by 62 percent in his 12 years as police superintendent, in large measure by putting more officers on neighborhood beats.

"It's not just what Ed has accomplished that stood out to me; it's how Ed got the job done," Menino said. "Ed and his officers built a trust with Lowell's diverse communities. He deployed a highly visible force to neighborhoods, so officers could connect with their residents."

Several Boston community leaders praised Davis yesterday, saying that he has worked with the Boston police on regional anticrime initiatives and has reached out to Cambodian, Somali, and other immigrant groups in Lowell, including using a public access cable show.

"He understands the challenges of urban America," said Darnell Williams, president of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, who said he worked with Davis on the attorney general's task force on eliminating racial profiling.

"As long as his door is open for communication, he has the opportunity to get traction in the community."

Jack McDevitt, head of the Institute on Race and Justice at Northeastern University and a consultant for the Boston Police Department, praised Davis for his knowledge of innovative anticrime strategies. He cited Davis's work with the Police Executive Research Forum, a policing think tank in Washington, D.C. The board of the forum is chaired by Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton, a former Boston police commissioner.

While the number of homicides in Lowell has increased to 11 so far this year, from two last year, some Boston community leaders were impressed that Lowell police have solved nine of the slayings. That's a far higher clearance rate than in Boston, where there had been 60 homicides by Sunday, two more than at the same time last year, when the city's homicide total hit a 10-year high.

"I'd love to know how he's getting all these arrests in Lowell," said Emmett Folgert, director of the Dorchester Youth Collaborative.

But Davis will also confront some doubts about the highly secretive selection process.

Some community leaders questioned whether Menino gave minority candidates enough of a chance and whether Davis can make the transition to a much bigger city.

"I know Ed Davis, and he is competent, but I think the selection process was flawed and that there were amply qualified African-American candidates who never got an interview, and that's problematic," said Leonard Alkins, president of the Boston branch of the NAACP.

Some police union leaders wondered why Menino went outside the department and passed over top officials such as superintendents Robert Dunford and Paul Joyce.

"There's certainly going to be a learning curve for someone coming in from outside," said Joseph Gillespie, president of the Boston Police Superior Officers Federation, which represents sergeants, lieutenants, and captains. "There are certain intricacies with the department that only someone who has been a BPD officer can understand."

Davis said he met with union leaders yesterday and is looking forward to talking to the command staff, but he declined to say whether he will shuffle the department's leadership.

A 28-year veteran of the Lowell police whose brother is also on the force and whose wife is the daughter of a Tewksbury officer, Davis said he understands the needs of rank-and-file officers.

Davis, a Lowell native, said he also understands the lives of people struggling in the most crime-ridden neighborhoods in the city of about 100,000.

"I grew up in a neighborhood that was low income, that had an influx of Hispanic individuals as I was growing up there, and so I've grown up in tough neighborhoods," he said.

"If people know they're being listened to, I don't think it matters what color you are, as long you're giving everybody a fair shake."

Davis suggested he will make more changes to ensure officers' integrity. The department has been rocked by one of its worst corruption scandals, the arrests of three officers in July in Miami on drug-trafficking conspiracy charges. They are accused of delivering what they believed to be 100 kilograms of cocaine.

In June, an officer was suspended for one year for having sex with a heavily intoxicated woman in his cruiser while he was in uniform. Last month, a 12-year department veteran resigned from the force after pleading guilty to federal charges stemming from a series of 2004 actions in which he allegedly used his badge to extort sex from a teenage prostitute. And the Globe reported in July that 75 officers have failed department drug tests since annual testing began in 1999. Sixty-one of that number tested positive for cocaine.

"You need to be vigilant and pay attention to the systems that are in place to make sure that if someone's doing something wrong you're tipped off to it early," Davis said.

David D'Alessandro, the former chairman and chief executive officer of John Hancock Financial Services who led Menino's search committee, said that the panel reviewed 30 to 40 resumes and that he interviewed about 15 candidates.

He said the committee considered only candidates with substantial command experience in an urban police department and a recent record of reducing crime. He said that many big-city chiefs the committee identified as possible candidates did not want to move.

The mayor interviewed a half-dozen finalists in Washington, D.C., so the search would remain secret, D'Alessandro said.

All came from cities with diverse populations, and two of the six finalists were African-American, including Washington, D.C., Chief Charles Ramsey, who did not want to leave, he said.

Davis was the most qualified of those interested in Boston, D'Alessandro said. He praised Davis's familiarity with modern crime-fighting techniques, his master's thesis on DNA, and his broad experience as an undercover officer and a detective.

Davis was also a finalist before Menino picked Kathleen M. O'Toole as the city's first female police commissioner in 2004. O'Toole left in July to join Ireland's national police force.

"Wherever we went all over the country asking who would be a good candidate," D'Alessandro said, "[Davis's] name would come up again and again from professional police people."

Charles Radin of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Suzanne Smalley can be reached at ssmalley@globe.com.