Police commissioner says goodbye to his officers

By adamg on Fri, 01/29/2021 - 4:57pm

BPD Commissioner William Gross, who rose from a cadet to become head of the nation's first police department, went on the department radio today to thank officers and say goodbye at the end of his final day on the job.

"At a time of civil unrest and pandemic, we're still number 1!" he told them. "Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart!"

He had a word for the bad guys and critics as well: ""If the haters are listening, we're still going to answer these calls each and every day."

Gross ended "I love and appreciate you all." He gave his radio call sign and then, "Ocean Frank" - the BPD term for an officer going off a call or home for the day.

Neighborhoods:

Boston

Free tagging:

William Gross

Boston Police Department

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Comments

Police: just here for other

By Make Boston Buses Free on Fri, 01/29/2021 - 5:19pm.

Police: just here for other police.

Everyone else is a "hater".

Am I the only one that doesn

By _Sean on Fri, 01/29/2021 - 5:22pm.

Am I the only one that doesn't know what to make of this guy? I always thought he was a genuinely good person, but his actions never made sense to me.

It seems like a lot of people thought he was a nice guy, but unqualified for the Commissioner job, given his 'lifer' status at BPD and zero education past high school. Perhaps it's unfair, but having just re-watched The Wire, I see some resemblances between him and Burrell. To his credit, Gross later got an associate's degree from Quincy College. But then, fast forward to today (only a a few years after being made Commish) and he thinks his entire career of being a BPD officer qualifies him to run one the fastest growing & changing cities on the east coast? And then, one week later, he abruptly resigns and pulls a complete 180, claiming he never had any intention to run for mayor.

There has to be more to this story...right?

Like Marty Walsh was

By anon on Fri, 01/29/2021 - 5:48pm.

Like Marty Walsh was qualified?

That's what the voters decide

By Anon on Fri, 01/29/2021 - 9:30pm.

There isn't a "the ideal candidate will have" bullshit job description for mayor, or any elected office, other than a minimum of age and residency. Democracy.

Word is....

By Pete Nice on Fri, 01/29/2021 - 6:42pm.

He’s gonna work for Amazon in the Seaport. Head of security or something like that.

It terms of qualifications for being Chief of police in a large city? I’ve thought about this a lot. I think the best answer is that it’s a political appointment job, and those types of jobs simply don’t need college degrees. The job is about public speaking, knowing police work (can’t learn that in any college, even “CJ” programs), and being a good communicator and leader. Also skills that aren’t really college learned

There is also the issue of many black police officers simply not having the same opportunities to get to higher education as their white or suburban counterparts. Civil Service regulations also don’t weigh college degrees at all, so your force is going to reflect that.

Gross is also someone who is in general a people person, and made friends throughout his life living and working in Boston. These friends and colleges vouch for him, and Walsh knew that (more politics) and so he is able to do this job helping people who ask for favors, and asking for help when he needs it.

This is also a very segregated city in more ways than one. And he can communicate with both sides.

In the end this position is political, and not much more.

Wow. Head of a police

By anon on Fri, 01/29/2021 - 8:32pm.

Wow. Head of a police department in a major city is a humongous job....and a college degree doesn't mean you are going to be the best at anything - lots of insanely successful people never finished high school never mind college.

Having dealt with him

By Waquiot on Fri, 01/29/2021 - 10:10pm.

I was involved in a demonstration a long while back, and he was assigned to kind of, sort of, keep us in line. I've got to say, he's got good people skills. He acknowledged that we were there for constitutional protected speech, asked us to respect the people around us, and wished us well. Great people skills. A good sense for reading the situation (we were not out for any kind of trouble.)

Offers or officers?

By mg on Fri, 01/29/2021 - 5:22pm.

Did you mean to say he said farewell to his officers in the headline? Though a story about saying goodbye to offers would be more interesting, for sure.