Hey, there! Log in / Register

Retiring BPD detective leaves mixed legacy

By adamg on Thu, 02/25/2016 - 8:29pm

Kevin Cullen, who used to be a police-beat reporter, gives Daniel Keeler a sendoff, describing him as a tough-but-fair champion of justice. David Bernstein, who once took a critical look at the BPD homicide unit on which Keeler served, is not quite so charitable.

Neighborhoods: 
Boston
Topics: 
Media
Free tagging: 
Boston Police Department
Kevin Cullen


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

By anon on Thu, 02/25/2016 - 9:17pm.

If you listen to the BPD audio from the marathon bombing (which is readily available on YouTube), you can clearly hear Keeler taking complete control of what sounds like a horribly chaotic scene. He did an admirable job that day.

You're wrong Bernstein.

PS it's hard to take you seriously when you call him "Keller".

up
Voting closed 0

By anon on Thu, 02/25/2016 - 10:19pm.

I wasn't aware that being professional during an emergency response counters or changes decades of conduct law enforcement.

I'm also confused as how a police officer, whose job it is to investigate crime, can be "tough but fair", when that is the role of a judge (ie deciding who should be punished and how.)

up
Voting closed 0

By anon on Fri, 02/26/2016 - 7:38am.

It's hard for you to take him seriously when he calls him "Keller"? Bernstein wrote a half-dozen Phoenix articles about the guy and apparently you found one typo out of the tens of times Keeler's name is mentioned. Bully for you - that must have been quite a moral victory.

up
Voting closed 0

By anon on Fri, 02/26/2016 - 8:18am.

It's hard to take ANYONE seriously when they wrote for the Phoenix.

up
Voting closed 0

By anon on Fri, 02/26/2016 - 7:50am.

The main points from Bernstein's article:

If you have time, you might want to also read my award-winning feature dubbing his unit “The Worst Homicide Squad In The Country.” Or my investigation documenting how Keeler and other homicide detectives routinely came forward with “significant, previously undisclosed evidence [that] came to light often just days before trial.” Or this shorter piece where I showed that “Keeler’s Poison Spreads To Federal Court.” Or this article in which I revealed that the work of Keeler and others had created “Reasonable Bias” among Bostonians against the Boston Police Department. Or my expose of “The Overtime Game” his homicide unit was using to rack up bogus overtime pay.

But yes, one good anecdote about this police chief cancels all of that out.

up
Voting closed 0

By Kaz on Fri, 02/26/2016 - 12:23pm.

Read the Bernstein link or just spouting off in defense of Keeler first? As he said in his post, there are portrayals of everyone's actions that day in the book "Boston Strong" and for some reason, Keeler's actions don't rise to be something above average.

This guy was a cancer on the force. But that doesn't prevent him from doing his job, sometimes even correctly. We're all part superhero and part villain. The world isn't black and white. But when you become a cop, the "part villain" part needs to be reined in as much as possible. You have to be more acutely aware of it and stamp it down as much as possible...not rely on it to get the job done or to get more money from overtime or whatever other assholish-borderline-illegal thing Keeler did whenever he was being the cancer and not the cure.

And Bernstein raises yet another important point that you're ignoring by whitewashing his actions AFTER the bomb went off: his job that day was to prevent bombs from going off and he failed.

up
Voting closed 0

By anon on Thu, 02/25/2016 - 9:56pm.

I don't know Keeler or Bernstein. I remotely know the Wahlberg family (not Mark) from growing up in Dot at same time. I respect them for their successes.

I'll quote the end of the Bernstein piece:

"So, Mr. Wahlberg, please be wary of believing anything Keeler tells you, or of turning him into a Boston hero on-screen. There are others far more worthy of your attention and portrayal."

I have no opinion on Keeler but agree with the worthiness sentiment regarding the whole movie.

I see no artistic or otherwise higher purpose for this movie. Dramatizing tragedy just b/c you can? Let others do it Mr. Wahlberg. These are your former neighbors who were victims.

You can do better.
Shame.

I

up
Voting closed 0

By Sock_Puppet on Fri, 02/26/2016 - 6:56am.

Wahlberg will laugh about that all the way to the bank.

up
Voting closed 0

By anon on Fri, 02/26/2016 - 2:37pm.

Sheesh.

up
Voting closed 0

By aging cynic on Fri, 02/26/2016 - 4:51am.

Mr. Keeler, per the Globe piece, is Sonny McDonough's nephew. That used to count for something. (In fact, Sonny's now-imprisoned son Richard made a career out of being his father's son and became a lobbyist. He went away in the Sal DiMasi trial and remains in prison, I believe.) If Keeler is the second coming of John Connelly in his mixing politics with law enforcement, why hasn't anyone examined it? Per the Globe piece, Keeler had trouble getting on the cops, even with veterans preference as an ex-Marine. Had to spend a couple years on the fire department first. Either this guy is a hero or he isn't. Has he been using political juice all this time or is he getting a bad rap? Somebody is owed an apology here. I just can't quite figure out who it is.

up
Voting closed 0

By anon_wd on Fri, 02/26/2016 - 11:11am.

I was left somewhat conflicted at the end of this piece as well for many of the same reasons

I also kept thinking of how there don't seem to many bastions of the old line heard attributed to Will McDonough of (to paraphrase if I'm wrong) "Fluff your friends, fuck their enemies" journalism left at the Globe

up
Voting closed 0