[Irishpride]

Boston police commissioner accepts job offer in London

Associated Press
Monday, September 8, 2003

BOSTON - Boston's longtime police commissioner, whose tenure was marked by plummeting crime rates, will leave to take a high-profile job helping British police improve their crime-fighting techniques, the mayor announced Monday.

Paul F. Evans will become director of the Police Standards Unit, an office created in 2001 by the British government to assess how British police forces are performing, and to help them improve.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said Evans will step down November.

``He cares about the people who call this city home,'' said Menino, who promoted Evans to the commissioner's job nearly a decade ago.

During his Boston tenure since 1994, Evans has overseen a drop in crime in most categories. Last year, the city experienced a 31-year low in violent crime.

He will replace Kevin Bond, a former police officer and business executive who left the Police Standards Unit in April.

Menino said a search committee would begin looking for a successor to Evans.

Evans, who received a $36,000 raise last year to bring his annual salary to $160,000, could earn more than $310,000 in the London job, according to The Boston Globe.

 

[mazz]

With Evans gone does this mean the Boston cops can shoot at cars again :?:

 

[Guest]

Mazz,

Not a chance dude. Once the city impliments something, they never go back on it. Even if it is 100% wrong like the decision not to shoot at M/V's unless being fired upon. It's the mentality of "My way is the only way" of thinking. Totally wrong but it's their way of thinking.
Maybe having him gone will be good for contract talks for the BPPA. Lots of scandals coming up too. Who wants to be top dawg when it starts raining dogshit? Certainly not Evans. Being across the pond will deflect alot of the dog poop sure to be raining around these parts soon.

 

[Rafferty]

Any idea on who the new boss will be?

 

[davemcs]

top candiate appears to be former MSP/Sec Public Safety Katherine O'Toole...

 

[JohnBarleycorn]

Will the new connected MBTA chief from Nantucket be moving again??

 

[Irishpride]

Menino was quoted in the press today saying that he would like to see a new commissioner who "comprehends the diversity of the community". I hate to sound cynical but anytime I hear a politician talk about diversity I can't help thinking that race/gender will play a significant role in the selection process.

 

[GMACK24]

Another article


News Break

09/08/2003 19:14:39 EST

Boston Police Commissioner Accepts UK Job

Boston's police commissioner, whose tenure was marked by a steep drop
in crime, said Monday
he will step down and take a high-ranking job for Britain's police
force.

Paul F. Evans, 54, will become director of the Police Standards Unit,
an office the British
government created in 2001 to assess and improve its police forces.

Evans credited the Boston police department's cooperation with other
law enforcement
officials, clergy members, community groups and businesses with
helping violent crime in the
city dip to a 31-year low in 2002.
"It certainly wasn't me acting alone by any stretch of the
imagination," he said.

Evans leaves as Boston faces the daunting task of hosting the
Democratic National Convention
next summer, and with patrol officers still negotiating a contract.
Boston Mayor Thomas
Menino said a search committee would begin looking for a successor
immediately.

Menino, who appointed Evans in 1994, said his new job was "a credit to
the outstanding work he has done."
"Commissioner Evans is going across the pond, that's true, but his
legacy is right here in
Boston," Menino said.

 

[FghtNIrsh17]

Any idea on who the new boss will be?

Davis a favorite in Hub chief search
Lowell's top cop says he's considering seeking the post

By CHRISTOPHER SCOTT

LOWELL Police Superintendent Edward Davis III, unsuccessfully recruited by big city police departments in the past, is a leading candidate to succeed Paul Evans as police commissioner in Boston, The Sun has learned.
Davis' name was being floated within the Menino administration minutes after Evans announced his resignation yesterday, sources indicated.

Evans, Boston's top cop since 1994, is taking over as director of the Police Standards Unit in Britain. The position was created in 2001 by the British government to assess how British police forces are performing and to help them improve.

Davis said yesterday that he has not been formally contacted about the job, although he was aware that his name was among a small number being mentioned to replace Evans.

"I had a flurry of calls (yesterday) from the Boston media about this," Davis said. "It's come from down there someplace, and I don't really know where it started."

Davis added, however, that he would consider applying for the job, although he noted that the selection process has not even begun yet.

"That's the premier law enforcement job in New England," said Davis, who will celebrate his 25-year anniversary as a Lowell police officer later this month. "Certainly it's an honor to have your name even considered for it, but there's a process, and it's very premature to even be talking about it right now."

Davis, 46, said any decision would come only after close consultation with his family and colleagues.

Another name mentioned for the position is Kathleen O'Toole, the former state public safety secretary under former governor Paul Cellucci.

But Davis, who has been recruited by other major cities in the past, including Detroit, is considered to have an inside track in Boston because of his close relationship with Evans. The two will share a Faneuil Hall stage today when Attorney General John Ashcroft visits Boston to discuss domestic anti-terrorism efforts.

Evans and Davis have had similar careers in law enforcement. Both were named chief on the same day Feb. 14, 1994.

The pair have served together on committees studying racial profiling by police and the use of force by police officers.

They also serve together on the Regional Community Policing Institute, the Massachusetts Major Cities Chiefs' Association and the state's Anti-Terrorism Task Force.

Both chiefs are proponents of the community policing model and have traveled extensively to lecture on the topic, including to London, where Davis gave a talk on the subject to Evans' future employer.

Wayne Budd, a former U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, has been picked to head a selection committee that will conduct the search for Evans' replacement in Boston.

The committee's members are expected to be chosen by Friday. Evans will remain on the job through November.

Seth Gitell, a Menino spokesman, declined comment on whether Davis is being considered as a candidate for the job.

In Boston, Evans earns about $160,000 a year, overseeing nearly 2,500 officers and a $250 million budget.

In Lowell, Davis, who will earn $122,000 this year, oversees 250 officers and a $20 million budget.

Sun staff reporter Jack Minch contributed to this report.

 

[37-99]

they haven't had 2,500 officers for a while now

 

[37-99]

Menino reported set to name police panel
By Douglas Belkin, Globe Staff, 10/3/2003

Before the weekend is over, Mayor Thomas M. Menino is expected to announce the members of the search committee that will help select the city's next police commissioner, a source close to mayor said yesterday.

ADVERTISEMENT

Plans to name the committee were announced last month when Police Commissioner Paul F. Evans confirmed that he was leaving to direct Britain's Police Standards Unit in London.

The search committee is expected to be made up of eight or nine business and community leaders, the source said. It will be led by Wayne Budd, the former US attorney.

Evans is leaving his job in November after nearly a decade as leader of the Police Department, and his departure has prompted intense speculation over who will succeed him. Among the candidates reportedly being considered are consultant Kathleen M. O'Toole, Superintendent in Chief James Hussey, Superintendent Robert Dunford, Superintendent Paul Joyce, Captain James M. Claiborne, and MBTA Police Chief Joseph C. Carter.

Evans is scheduled to leave next month for London. With the search committee still not in place, it appears unlikely that his replacement will be hired by the time he leaves. If no successor has been hired, Menino is expected to appoint an interim chief.

When Evans's predecessor, William J. Bratton, left Boston in 1993, his job was filled by Evans, then superintendent in chief.

Hussey currently holds that position and has indicated that he is interested in the job, a City Hall source with knowledge of the search said yesterday. Hussey, who lives in Norwood, also is looking for property in the city, according to two law enforcement officials and a City Hall official. The police commissioner traditionally lives in the city and would probably not be hired without a Boston address, said a City Hall source with knowledge of the job hunt.

If Hussey becomes interim commissioner, his relationship with the mayor could work to his advantage, said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a law enforcement think tank in Washington, D.C.

"Half of this business is about professionalism, and half is about chemistry," Wexler said. "Someone familiar within the system already in the command structure is a logical choice."

Seth Gitell, spokesman for Menino, said that no decision had been made about an interim or permanent replacement.

"Commissioner Evans is still in place and will be into November, during which time the mayor will focus on the selection of a new police commissioner," Gitell said.

© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.

 

[37-99]

Panel named to find Evans successor
8-member team headed by Budd
By Douglas Belkin, Globe Staff, 10/8/2003

The eight-person search committee convened to help select the city's next police commissioner will consist of a Dorchester minister, a Harvard criminologist, a Chinatown neighborhood activist and the CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston, among others, Mayor Thomas M. Menino announced yesterday.



Menino gave the committee, which met for the first time last night in City Hall and is being led by former US attorney Wayne Budd, their marching orders to present a list of three candidates from which to choose a replacement for Police Commissioner Paul Evans, who is leaving in mid-November for a job in London.

The ideal candidate will be agile enough to deal with Boston's diverse population, experienced enough in community-policing to build on the department's foundation and far-sighted enough to prepare the force for its next challenges, according to Menino.

"I think you have to look at where you're going," he said. "What are the issues developing that are going to be a concern in the next two or three years."

Crime in Boston hit a 30-year low under Evans but the list of candidates will not be limited to officers who worked closely with Evans and share in his success, Budd said yesterday. "We don't come into this with any preconceived agenda as to the candidate pool," he said. "We're too early in the process to speculate whether they will come from inside or outside the department."

The members of the committee announced yesterday were: the Rev. Gregory Groover, pastor of the Charles Street AME Church and chairman of the Black Ministerial Alliance's education committee; Mark H. Moore, faculty chairman of criminal justice at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government; Mary Soo Hoo, a member of the Chinatown Neighborhood Safety Committee and a longtime community activist; Rosa H. Talero, vice president of corporate community development for Fleet Boston's Community Investment Group and treasurer of Inquilino Boricuas en Accion, which works to improve the social and economic conditions facing Latinos; Philip A. Tracey Jr., a defense attorney at the Boston-based firm of Dimento and Sullivan and former Suffolk assistant district attorney; Peter Welsh, Menino's former chief of policy and planning and at one time a civilian manager in former police commissioner Francis Roache's administration; and Linda Whitlock, president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs.

Menino said he chose the members because of their diversity, breadth of experience, and commitment to the city. "I wanted the people of Boston to be represented by people who understand the issues of the city both downtown and in the neighborhoods," he said.

Evans said yesterday he will be leaving Boston in about five weeks, but Budd said it was not realistic to expect the search committee to generate a list of finalists in such a short period of time. Menino will choose an interim commissioner until a permanent replacement is found, Budd said.

The city's last interim police commissioner was Evans, who was then Francis Roache's superintendent in chief. Holding that position now is James Hussey, but Menino yesterday refused to say whether he would appoint Hussey to the interim post or whether Evans' has an heir apparent in the department.

"Is there a protege of Commissioner Paul Evans?" Menino asked. "I haven't heard one, how can there be?"

 

[37-99]

Bratton proteges may be about to make history:[All Editions]
Peter Gelzinis. Boston Herald. Boston, Mass.: Oct 2, 2003. pg. 004

What was America's most charismatic cop, William J. Bratton, doing in Eastie last week, huddled in an under-the-radar seance with the captain of District 7, Jimmy Claiborne?

Well, people who know say Billy had come home to help nudge his friend and protege, Kathleen O'Toole, former secretary of public safety, ever closer to history as the first woman to lead the Boston Police Department.

"No doubt Kathy asked him if she should trade the big bucks of security consulting for the political viper's nest of Schroeder Plaza," said a source who's known both for years. "And Billy told her it's a no-brainer: You take the job and surround yourself with good people."

The Bratton sighting does more than simply advance speculation about O'Toole succeeding Paul Evans. It underscores the buzz that her first move as commissioner would be to bring Jimmy Claiborne back to the command staff, as the BPD's first black superintendent- in-chief.

"That would be the smartest thing she could do," said one superior officer, not particularly enamored with the prospect of O'Toole at the helm. "The respect people have for Jimmy Claiborne cuts across the racial divide. He's worked for everything he's earned on this job. And he has a reputation for speaking the truth, even when people are not inclined to welcome it."

In a command staff shake-up four years ago, Paul Evans removed Claiborne as head of the Bureau of Field Services and banished him across the harbor to what some cops affectionately call "the East Boston gulag."

"That was Jimmy's reward for not being afraid to bring Paul bad news," said one headquarters insider. "If Jimmy was upset, he never showed it. What he does is go out to East Boston and prove that the most important part of this job is still service delivery - meeting people where they live and where they work. No surprise they fell in love with Jimmy."

As intriguing as Bill Bratton's stealth rendezvous with a former member of his command staff may be, any interpretation still qualifies as speculation. True, he helped set Kathy O'Toole's career trajectory some 17 years ago by luring her away from the BPD to join him on the T police and, later, to succeed him as chief of the MDC police, where she presided over the consolidation of the MDC with the state police.

Back then, however, it was a much hungrier O'Toole, who did not have to consider forfeiting either the hefty consultant fees she pulls down now, or the state pension she took away as secretary of public safety.

"Yeah, that's true," said the friend who's tracked the careers across the span of years. "But 20 years ago, Kathy came this close to becoming the first female deputy superintendent on the Boston police force. I know how much that meant to her. And I don't have to imagine what having the chance to come back as the first female police commissioner means to her now.

"Truth is, she's got people who can run her consultant business," he said. "This . . . this is the dream of her life. I don't think she passes that up, not if she's got someone like Jimmy to lean on."

Such a scenario resonates on many levels, not the least of which is having the BPD leadership reflect Boston as it is.

"I'll tell ya," said the headquarters insider, "it would really signal a new approach in how business was done around here. That's not to say that a guy like Bobby Dunford couldn't walk into that job tomorrow; he could.

"But it's time for something dramatically different. For example, you take the explosion of victims caught up in domestic violence . . . Kathy could speak to them with a voice that's never been heard before. And Jimmy, well, he's just the kind of guy to make sure that voice gets heard by everyone."

 

[37-99]

Police commissioner search narrows to seven candidates
By Ellen J. Silberman
Wednesday, December 17, 2003

The semifinalists for the Boston police commissioner's job are expected to be called in for interviews with the search committee Friday and Saturday, sources said.

Seven names - four from inside the department and three from outside - currently are on the short list generated by Mayor Thomas M. Menino's handpicked search committee, sources said.

But some may take themselves out of the running before the final cut, according to the sources.

The search committee has also asked Massachusetts Public Safety Commissioner Edward A. Flynn to apply for the job, but he hasn't yet put his hat in the ring and may decline to interview, sources said.

The inside candidates are as follows:


Acting Commissioner James Hussey, who was elevated from superintendent-in-chief when Commissioner Paul F. Evans left for a job in London.


Superintendent Robert Dunford, a detail-oriented officer charged with organizing security for July's Democratic National Convention.


Superintendent Paul Joyce, head of the department's Youth Violence Strike Force.


Capt. James Claiborne, a one-time member of the command staff who was exiled to East Boston by Evans.

The candidates from outside the department are former state Public Safety Secretary Kathleen O'Toole, Lowell police Superintendent Edward Davis and Phil Keith, the police chief in Knoxville, Tenn., sources said.

Ann Arbor, Mich., police Chief Daniel Oates was approached by the committee but declined to be interviewed.

 

[37-99]

Menino to name O'Toole as Boston police commissioner
2/8/2004

BOSTON -- Kathleen O'Toole will be named the new Boston Police Commissioner, sources close to the situation have told The Associated Press.


Mayor Thomas M. Menino is expected to make the announcement at a news conference early Sunday afternoon. A call to the mayor's office Sunday morning was not immediately returned.

O'Toole, 49, who previously served as director of the Executive Office of Public Safety, will be the city's first female police commissioner. She also vied for the job 10 years ago, but was beaten out by former commissioner Paul Evans.

O'Toole takes over from acting commissioner James Hussey, who was appointed on a temporary basis after Evans departed for a job in Great Britain in November.

Hussey was criticized for watching the Super Bowl at home last Sunday while fans lit fires and flipped cars during post-game celebrations. Critics have questioned whether enough police were on duty to deal with post-game crowds.

O'Toole beat out Hussey, Capt. James Claiborne, Superintendent Robert Dunford, and Ed Davis, superintendent of police in Lowell.