TITO HINTS AT COMMISH CHANGE IF VOTED MAYOR

The city’s top cop has been thrust into the mayoral race with City Councilor Tito Jackson questioning his worth and Mayor Martin J. Walsh firing back saying his rival doesn’t “understand policing” and his crimefighting criticism is dragging a good man through the political mud. The flare-up comes as Jackson, a District 7 councilor and candidate for mayor, is calling for more accountability over unsolved homicides, the slow rollout of police body cameras and a lack of diversity among the force’s rank-and-file.

He hinted yesterday on Boston Herald Radio’s “Morning Meeting” show that he would replace BPD Commissioner William B. Evans if he’s elected mayor Nov. 7.

“I would choose leadership that is going to ensure accountability,” Jackson said. “And I would have the most qualified commissioner in the nation.”

Walsh, who hired Evans for the $245,000-a-year job, pounced on the statement, saying Evans is the best in the business.

“I would put him up against any commissioner in the country to say he’s the best in the country. Anyone who thinks differently just doesn’t understand policing,” Walsh said, adding that “of course” he would retain Evans as commissioner if he is re-elected.

“He’s a national leader in community policing,” the mayor said. “Community leaders like what the commissioner has done.”

Jackson also blasted BPD in the past week for spending millions to fight lawsuits — including $1.5 million to defend a drug test that critics say discriminates against black officers.

Walsh said Evans led the way in keeping protests post-Ferguson calm in 2014 and said the department’s recent hires mirror city minority populations, with 24 percent being black and 18 percent Hispanic. He also restated his support for extending the body camera pilot program another six months with further study.

“Any candidate that wants to can throw things up against the wall and hope it sticks,”

Walsh said. “Our intention is if we have full body cameras it won’t be an experiment, it will actually work for people in the city.”

Yet, a May 2015 Herald review found that minority rank-and-file Boston police officers had dipped slightly during Walsh’s first 16 months in office — despite his repeated campaign vows to increase diversity.

While census figures showed the Hub’s minority population at 53 percent, the review found that black, Hispanic, Asian-American and other officers of color had dropped from 727 the last year of the Menino administration to 712 — or just 33.5 percent of the entire BPD.

Several black community leaders said they would support Jackson replacing Evans if he defeats Walsh this fall.

“I think there are people in the community who have been waiting to hear a politician put pressure on the commissioner to do more,” said the Rev. Bruce Wall, of Dorchester’s Global Ministries Christian Church.

“I think it distinguishes a difference between the incumbent mayor, who’s not listening to us, and the challenger that is willing to do something that the incumbent is not willing to do,” he said.

The Rev. Miniard Culpepper, the pastor of Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Dorchester, said people are “clamoring” for a change.

“Evans has done the best he can, that doesn’t mean a new commissioner can’t do better, Culpepper said. “Tito is saying Evans is a part of the old boys’ network and he wants to make a change. Knowing the choice Tito would make, I’d rather have his pick.”

But the Rev. Mark V. Scott, associate pastor of the Azusa Community Christian Church, praised Evans for overseeing reductions in violent crime and arrests and said he had worked to improve diversity in the department. He said Jackson needed to offer more concrete solutions instead of hinting at changing the commissioner.

“I think Councilor Jackson should focus on what makes a substantive police department,” Scott said.

“I’m concerned he’s not focusing on policy and substance, which makes me concerned he would not make a decent mayor,” he said. “A change in personnel is not the solution for something as complex as public safety.”