Michael A. Cox[3] (born June 17, 1965) is an American police officer, currently serving as the commissioner of the Boston Police Department.[a] He previously was the chief of police in Ann Arbor, Michigan from 2019 until 2022.
Michael Cox | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Cox at the 2024 Boston Marathon | |
| 44th Commissioner of the Boston Police Department | |
| Assumed office August 15, 2022 | |
| Mayor | Michelle Wu |
| Preceded by | Dennis White Gregory Long (acting) |
| Chief of the Ann Arbor Police Department | |
| In office September 2019 – July 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Robert Pfannes (interim)[1] |
| Succeeded by | Aimee Metzer (interim)[2] |
| Personal details | |
| Born | June 17, 1965 Boston, Massachusetts |
| Military service | |
| Years of service |
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| Rank |
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Early life
editMike Cox was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1965, the youngest of six children in an African-American family. Cox attended private school in Brookline, then the private Milton Academy for one year, where he faced class-based discrimination. He moved to Wooster School in 1981 and was admitted to Providence College in 1984. Cox frequently experienced his differences from other private school students as a class issue. When he joined the Boston Police Department, he befriended many white officers and was seen as color-blind.[4]
Career
editEarly career and friendly fire incident
editIn the early 1990s when Cox joined the Boston Police Department (BPD), crime was high in minority neighborhoods, and among BPD officers, loyalty overruled training, resulting in widespread brutality and a code of silence. BPD officers frequently used stop and frisk tactics on black men and women, and beat black men with impunity. Lying under oath was common. A mayoral blue-ribbon commission to reform the police and a permanent injunction placed by a judge had both failed to change police culture. As a plainclothes officer, Cox was mistaken for a suspect and briefly beaten while still in training, and once purposefully hit by a police vehicle and pinned to a wall. He recovered quickly both times so did not file complaints.[4]
In 1995, Cox's car was at the front of a high-speed chase which had involved several cars from the BPD and other departments. Cox continued the chase on foot, but was again mistaken for a suspect and this time badly beaten by four officers and hospitalized, suffering a serious brain injury. After the officers realized his identity, they quickly abandoned him to bleed on the sidewalk, and he learned only from newspaper reports that they had failed to report the incident. Cox began receiving harassing phone calls from other officers even before he had decided whether to file a complaint.[4] A lawsuit ultimately led to BPD settling with Cox for $900,000 in damages, as well as $400,000 in attorneys' fees.[3] No officer admitted to the beating. Following the battle in court, three of the officers were eventually fired, but one, Dave Williams, successfully sued for unjust termination and was returned to the service in 2006. Williams was again fired for brutality in 2009, and again reinstated. As of 2023, Williams is assigned to domestic violence cases.[5] Cox's story was the subject of the book The Fence, written by author and former reporter Dick Lehr of The Boston Globe.[4]
Move to Ann Arbor and return to Boston
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As of 2013, Cox had advanced to Deputy Superintendent in the BPD.[3] By 2019, Cox had advanced to Superintendent, the second highest rank in the BPD, serving as leading the Bureau of Professional Development and the Police Academy.[6]
In September 2019, Cox was sworn in as the chief of police for Ann Arbor, Michigan.[7] He served until departing on July 31, 2022, for Boston.[2]
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In July 2022, Cox was announced as the incoming commissioner of the Boston police by Mayor of Boston Michelle Wu.[8] He was officially sworn in on August 15, 2022.[9]
Personal life
editAs of April 2024[update], Cox was married with three children.[3] At that time, an article in The New York Times about Cox's 1995 beating identified one of his children as former UMass Minutemen and New York Giants running back Michael Cox.[3]
Notes
edit- ^ a b The police commissioner is a City of Boston position appointed by the Mayor of Boston; the highest rank within the Boston Police Department proper is Superintendent-in-Chief.
References
edit- ^ "Meet the Candidates for Ann Arbor Police Chief". www.a2gov.org. City of Ann Arbor. May 6, 2019.
- ^ a b "City of Ann Arbor Interim Chief of Police Named". www.a2gov.org. City of Ann Arbor. July 2022. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Pennington, Bill (November 16, 2013). "A Lesson in Perseverance for a Giants Running Back". The New York Times. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
- ^ a b c d Lehr, Dick (June 15, 2010). The Fence: A Police Cover-Up Along Boston's Racial Divide. HarperCollins. pp. 356–. ISBN 9780060780999. Retrieved March 26, 2012.
- ^ Jones, Glenn (February 8, 2023). "A Boston Police Officer Was Fired Twice. Arbitration Got Him His Job Back — But Should It?". NBC Boston.
- ^ Stanton, Ryan (July 1, 2019). "Ann Arbor council hires Boston cop to serve as new police chief". The Ann Arbor News. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
- ^ Grant, Isobel (September 4, 2019). "Ann Arbor Police Department swears in new Chief of Police Michael Cox". The Michigan Daily. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
- ^ Durkin Richer, Alanna (July 13, 2022). "Officer, once beaten by colleagues, to lead Boston police". Associated Press. Retrieved July 13, 2022.
- ^ Zokovitch, Grace (August 15, 2022). "Boston swears in new Police Commissioner Michael Cox". Boston Herald. Retrieved August 15, 2022 – via MSN.com.