BOSTON (WHDH) - Mayor Michelle Wu announced Wednesday morning that Michael Cox will be the new police commissioner for the Boston Police Department.
Cox, who comes from a stint as the chief of the Ann Arbor Police Department, previously worked for the Boston Police Department for 30 years.
The new commissioner will replace former police commissioner Dennis White, who was fired over resurfaced domestic violence allegations in June 2021 by then-acting Mayor Kim Janey.
Superintendent-In-Chief Gregory Long has been the acting commissioner since then.
This announcement comes as the Boston Police Patrolman’s Association, the city’s largest police union, criticizes the department and calls for immediate action from the city after it says some officers were ordered to work 24 hours in a row this past weekend.
The association said officers were covering several events on Saturday including the Jamaica Plain Block Party, the Red Sox game and a festival in the Seaport.
The association is now calling on the city to hire more officers.
“The chronic understaffing of the BPD is now resulting in the unsafe situation of officers being ordered to work 24 hours straight. This is utterly unacceptable; the City is gambling with the safety of our community and our members by these reckless staffing decisions,” the Boston Patrolmen’s Association said in a statement.
“We’re grateful for the service of our Boston Police officers every single day to keep residents and visitors in Boston safe,” a city spokesperson for Mayor Wu’s office said in a statement.
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