Former top cop Davis: Janey ‘did the right thing’
Domestic violence allegations against White would have made doing his job ‘impossible’
The decision by Acting Mayor Kim Janey to fire Police Commissioner Dennis White in the wake of domestic violence allegations against him was “the only thing that she could do,” a former top cop for the city said Sunday.
“I think the acting mayor did the right thing in this particular case,” former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said on WBZ Sunday.
“It’s a very difficult situation,” Davis said. “I think that Acting Mayor Janey did the only thing that she could do. This candidate is not someone that could effectively run a police department in any city in the country right now.”
Janey fired White last week, about a month into an ugly public fight over the commissioner’s job.
White had been suspended since Feb. 3 — just two days after thenMayor Martin Walsh promoted him to be the top cop — when decades-old abuse allegations surfaced.
“The domestic violence community is a big part of our support and relationships, and we work with them continually, so these kind of allegations really make that almost impossible to do,” Davis said of White leading the city’s police force.
Davis offered praise for the acting police commissioner, Gregory Long, who he said is “extremely professional, extremely competent.”
“He understands the nuts and bolts of running a police department,” Davis said. “As we go into the summer — which I can tell you is the most troublesome time of the year for a police commissioner — having somebody like Greg at the controls, or at least picking someone that the mayor has confidence in and can give the reins to, is really the most important thing right now.”
In addition to the White controversy, the BPD has been dealing with an overtime scandal and child sex abuse allegations against former police union head Patrick Rose.
“Everybody in my former profession is worried about the relationships that we have with the community right now, and it’s exacerbated by the scandals that have occurred in the Boston Police Department that makes it even more difficult,” Davis said.
“Whoever takes over this police department has to have a strategy to build trust with the community, to partner with the community, and really to develop strategies that the community wants to have done,” he added.
When Davis was asked if he’s interested in coming back to lead BPD, he laughed, adding, “No, I’m not. Thank you.”