Michael Cox, 57, will return to his hometown of Boston after a stint as police chief in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to lead the same force against which he has filed a civil rights lawsuit over being beaten by co-workers . Cox, who is black, will take over as commissioner next month. Cox described his appointment as an “emotional moment” for him, apologizing during a call with reporters for his shaking voice. He promised to work to diversify the police department — which critics have long complained doesn’t look enough like the city it serves — and make sure officers feel supported in their work to protect the community. “I think this is a very exciting time. I think the officers need someone to back them up,” Cox told reporters Wednesday. “And I’m going to their biggest cheerleader.” Before becoming chief in Ann Arbor in 2019, Cox was a member of the Boston police force for 30 years, where he rose through the ranks after years of fighting to get justice for a beating that left him severely injured at age 29. Cox was working undercover in plainclothes as part of the gang unit in January 1995 when officers received a call about a shooting. Cox, dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, spotted the suspect and began chasing him. The suspect began climbing a fence and Cox was hit from behind just as he was about to grab the man, Cox said. He was kicked and punched by colleagues, suffered head injuries and kidney damage. “It was humiliating what happened to me,” Cox told former Boston Globe reporter Dick Lehr about Lehr’s book about the beating: “The Fence: A Police Cover-Up Along Boston’s Racing Divide.” “There is no reason to treat anyone like this. And then just let them go. And if they did it to me — another police officer — would they do it to another person if they got away with it?” Cox said. Cox has described facing harassment in an attempt to silence him after the beating went public despite his colleagues’ efforts to cover it up. A department injury report said Cox lost his footing in an icy puddle, causing him to fall and crack his head. Cox chose to stay on the force after what happened to him and try to make things better rather than walk away from a job he loved, he said Wednesday. “Since then, in 1995, I’ve dedicated my life to making sure that both the Boston Police Department and policing in general have grown and learned … to make sure we have structures and mechanisms in place to make sure we don’t do it again never. kind of incident against anybody,” Cox told reporters. The top prosecutor for Boston and surrounding communities, who has known Cox for years, called him “a man of high honor and integrity.” “Michael Cox’s journey from being beaten by fellow Boston police officers to being appointed Commissioner of the Boston Police Department is emblematic of criminal justice reform,” Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in an emailed statement. . Cox’s tenure in Ann Arbor was marred by allegations that he created a hostile work environment, which led to him being briefly placed on administrative leave in 2020. An investigation found “no evidence that the Chief behaved in a manner” that created a hostile work environment. But a report said “there is evidence that people feared reprisals from the Chief and had a legitimate basis for that fear, whether that was the Chief’s intention or not.” He was reinstated less than a month after being placed on leave after being told by city officials to apologize “for any misunderstandings and miscommunication.” The mayor said the vetting process was intense and that she spoke personally with the mayor and Ann Arbor city manager about Cox’s time there. Those talks confirmed that he is “a leader with great integrity,” Wu said. “We are extremely excited to bring a leader with his experience, wisdom and background in Boston to this role,” he told reporters. In Boston, Cox spent 15 years in various roles on the police administrative staff, including Bureau Chief and Supervisor of the Office of Professional Development. He oversaw the Boston Police Academy, Firearms Training Unit, Police Cadet Unit and training for recruits and commissioned officers. Boston’s last commissioner — Dennis White — was fired last year after a bitter battle to keep his position after allegations of decades of domestic violence came to light. White was placed on leave over the allegations, which he denied, just days into his new job. Superintendent Gregory Long is serving as acting police commissioner during the search for White’s permanent successor.
