Boston Mayor Wu now interviewing police commissioner finalists

The panel tasked with identifying candidates to become Boston Police Commissioner has submitted a list of four finalists to Mayor Michelle Wu, putting the city’s search for a top cop into its final stage.

Retired Supreme Judicial Court Justice Geraldine Hines, who chairs the search committee, said the panel sent a letter informing the mayor of their slate of finalists Friday. The list was made after a confidential interview process which narrowed a pool of 42 applicants down to about a dozen who were interviewed twice.

The retired judge declined to disclose the names of those advancing, citing privacy concerns that could discourage candidates from moving forward. The candidates, she said, are “a mix” in terms of ethnicity, gender and internal and external to the BPD.

“They represent the job description,” said Hines when asked about the pool’s qualifications. “Transformational leaders with due concern for community and community interests.”

The city released the commissioner job description in April after a round of community input meetings.

Wu has been clear about naming a change-oriented commissioner despite the police department’s history of resisting reforms.

The department has been without a permanent leader since former commissioner Dennis White was placed on leave last February after allegations of domestic violence from the 1990s resurfaced within days of his swearing in. White was formally dismissed last June, and Superintendent-In-Chief Gregory Long has served as interim commissioner since then.

Along with the lack of permanent leadership, the BPD has been hit by several scandals in recent years including the investigation of an officer for potential involvement in the Jan. 6^th Capitol insurrection; multiple scathing headlines regarding a former officer and now-convicted child molester, Patrick Rose; and damning video footage of a police sergeant discussing running over protesters with a car during the 2020 protests against racial injustice.

The issue of unjust killings of Black people are part of the framing for the commissioner job description.

The posting calls for candidates with “a proven record of implementing community-centered, reform-focused, innovative solutions to advance public safety,” as well as management skills necessary to “confront and address issues and practices of inequity and discrimination, and to implement reforms.”

Hines declined to discuss the questions the panel asked of candidates to explore those qualities.

Mayor Wu will now review the slate and interview finalists, according her the press office.