Boston Police Commissioner Expected To Resign, Then Assume IOP Fellowship

Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis is expected to announce his resignation Monday, the Boston Globe reported Sunday evening. Davis will assume a fellowship with Harvard’s Institute of Politics, according to the Globe.

Sources close told the Globe that Davis will teach and take classes from his position at Harvard as he considers other career options.

According to the Boston Police Department website Davis will hold a press conference at the Boston police headquarters at 10 a.m. Monday to “discuss [his] future plans.”

Mayor Thomas M. Menino appointed Davis as police commissioner in October 2006. Before that, Davis had served for 12 years as the superintendent of police in Lowell, Mass.

Davis has been praised for his handling the Boston Marathon bombings in April 2013, an event which came at the tail-end of his seven-year tenure.

During the April 19 manhunt for Cambridge residents Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Davis, together with Menino and Governor Deval L. Patrick ’78, announced a city-wide lockdown. Davis was praised by figures like former Harvard professor and current Senator Elizabeth Warren for his confident leadership during the crisis.

But Davis’s tenure has not been free of controversy. The Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers has criticized his time as commissioner as marked by a failure to promote qualified minority officers and lacking a strong commitment to diversity. The group asked for Davis to resign through a vote of no-confidence in early August.

Davis’s resignation comes six months after Menino’s announcement that he will not seek sixth term in office. Davis worked closely with the mayor throughout his time as commissioner.

“He views himself as a team with the mayor,” a source told the Globe. “In the past couple of weeks he just felt like it was time.”

—Staff writer Antonio Coppola can be reached at antonio.coppola@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @AntonioCoppolaC.

—Staff writer John P. Finnegan can be reached at finnegan@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @finneganspake.