Ed Davis

Police Commissioner Ed Davis testified before the House Committee on Homeland Security today. Among his conclusions:

Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said today his son Phillip, 22, was arrested on an OUI charge in Plymouth, NH on Friday.

His arrest comes less than two weeks after he was driven home by a Boston cop after apparently coming out of the Garden possibly too drunk to drive his pickup home. Police brass are currently investigating that incident to see whether he got special treatment after telling an officer he was the commissioner's son.

The commissioner's statement:

The weapons found in East Boston last week are just the latest seized this year, Mayor Tom Menino and Police Commissioner Ed Davis say in a plea for tougher federal action on guns.

"Let's make it tougher for felons, domestic abusers and other dangerous criminals to get guns," Davis said in a statement. "We need federal legislation that would require gun buyers to pass criminal background checks and prohibit any private citizen from owning military style high capacity firearms. It is clear these types of weapons have one purpose, to kill large numbers of people quickly, and it is essential we get these guns off our streets."

Menino and Davis said 60% of the illegal guns seized in Boston arrived from out of state. They also pointed to an October raid in Roslindale that netted "seven high powered weapons and more than a thousand rounds of ammunition."

A federal appeals court has upheld the right of Massachusetts police departments to deny people the right to bear certain arms if they lie on their permit applications.

The ruling means former Boston police officer Stacey Hightower can no longer carry a concealed .38 caliber five-round revolver - or carry high-capacity weaponry.

Pax Centurion, the newsletter of the local patrolmen's union, is no fan of Police Commissioner Ed Davis. The feeling's mutual. Reacting to a flurry of tweets about the bi-monthly publication, which started yesterday after Simmons College said it regretted advertising in the newsletter, Davis tweeted this morning:

Robin is correct, I thank her. This juvenile conduct is wrong and not rep of today's officer.

Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis yesterday set out his goals for the coming year, which include a 10% reduction in major crime, a 25% increase in walking and bicycle beats and a new "Tweet from the Beat" program for police supervisors on those beats.

Davis pointed to a 25% decrease in crime over the past five years and some specific examples of successful large-scale operations over the past year, including the peaceful end of Occupy Boston's encampment in Dewey Square, the aftermath of the Back Bay transformer fire and the Bruins' Stanley Cup win:

Police Commissioner Ed Davis:

Boston Police announced today that Commissioner Ed Davis has fired Justin Barrett, a police officer who sent out a mass e-mail referring to Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates as "a jungle monkey."

In a statement, Davis said:

Check out this video, released this week by BPD. I pose the question because normally, the only people to stride purposefully through neighborhoods in slow motion as they listen concernedly to local residents while inspirational music plays are candidates, right?

Adam posted earlier about Ed Davis swearing that lying will get you "fired". It may sound familiar.

Circa July 2009:

The words an officer writes down in a police incident report, the statements an officer makes to Internal Affairs investigators, the sworn testimony an officer gives to a grand jury or in court - it has to be truthful or else, Davis says. “The penalty will be termination, no matter the officer’s reputation. First one - and you’re out.’’

Circa today:

Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis will fire any officer convicted of perjury or shown to have lied during internal department investigations

Inquiring minds would like to know what happened to Patrick Wood, author of Jamaica Plain Babies Pushed Into My Cruiser. Also, what happened to Rance Cooley, author of Criminals I Recognize?

At least when it comes to internal-affairs investigations, Commissioner Ed Davis tells the Globe. Relates to investigations into disgraced cop Kiko Pulido.

Justin Barrett, who re-ignited controversy over Gatesgate with racist e-mail about Gates, filed a federal lawsuit against the city yesterday. He's demanding unspecified damages for his pain and suffering - and an end to efforts by Police Commissioner Ed Davis and Mayor Tom Menino to bounce him from the force, at least without a hearing.

Transcript of Police Commissioner Ed Davis's statement at a news conference today on Justin Barrett's e-mail to Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham:

The Boston Police Department is committed to a standard of excellence. Our community rightly has high expectations for us. It is a standard that the community deserves and we are required to meet. Officer Barrett's actions do not comply with those expectations.

Barrett's email was racist and inflammatory. These racist opinions and feelings have no place in this department or in our society and will not be tolerated.

Barrett's comments were directed at Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates. I regret the direct insult toward Professor Gates and have personally reached out to him to apologize for this offense and inform him of the Department's immediate efforts to make this officer accountable. ...

The commissioner denies the rumor in a memo to Boston Police:

... This rumor is false. I am personally proud to have the opportunity to lead this extraordinary organization and I look forward to our future successes.

Bobby Constantino read the Globe story yesterday that reported Police Commissioner Ed Davis is putting more cops back into plain clothes because underlings felt uniforms hindered their ability to get people to cooperate with them. Constantino replies that a) Davis should remember who's in charge at BPD and b) It's not the uniforms:

... Every officer in the City of Boston knows that people in urban neighborhoods will not talk to them whether they are in uniforms, plainclothes or Halloween costumes. The lack of trust and cooperation has nothing to do with what police are wearing and anyone that tells you so is not being honest. Residents know why police officers don't want to wear uniforms, walk around in their neighborhoods and build relationships. They sense it. They see it. They feel it. And the transparent excuses why reinforce rather than repair feelings of mistrust.

Here is the complaint filed this week in federal district court against Boston and Police Commissioner Ed Davis by would-be better-than-a-Duck-Boat operator Erroll Tyler of Medford.

In it, Tyler recounts years of struggle with Cambridge and the state Department of Conservation and Recreation (he originally wanted to launch his boats by the Museum of Science; both city and state, he claims, fought him) and, now, the city of Boston, which he says is acting to protect Boston-based tour operators, who essentially have expensive cab-medallion-like license deals, against outsiders.

Tyler's lawyers are from The Institute for Justice, which describes itself as "our nation's only libertarian public interest law firm."

When Ed Davis stopped by the West Roxbury Roche Bros. for some shopping and saw a shoplifter race out the door, he couldn't just stand by. So he joined store security officers (wait? Roche. Bros. has security officers?) and helped grab the guy on nearby Belgrade Avenue, the Globe reports.

Ed. parochial note: As a frequent visitor to that store, the story left me wondering just how far down Belgrade the guy got. Did he get across the parkway, or did they nab him by that little field behind the old gas station?

Boston today approved higher fares for local cabs - but at a price: In addition to allowing rates to go up (from $13.95 to $16.20 for a five-mile ride), Mayor Tom Menino and Police Commissioner Ed Davis announced a series of new regulations aimed at making local cabs - and their drivers - cleaner and safer.

By 2015, all Boston cab drivers will have to convert their vehicles to hybrids. More immediately, a series of new measures aimed at cleaning up the soiled reputations of local cabs goes into effect Jan. 1, 2009, including:

• Cabbies will be required to accept credit cards.
• Cabs must be clean "at all times" - washed and vacuumed at least once a day.
• Same goes for drivers, who will no longer be allowed to wear T-shirts (clean or not) or any sort of ripped apparel or apparel bearing offensive words or logos. Swimsuits, jogging suits, tank tops and gym shorts are right out.
• Drivers will no longer be allowed to talk on cell phones while driving.
• Owners have to install roof lights that indicate whether a cab is available or not and prominently display fare information in the passenger area.

"Today's announcement underscores our commitment to ensuring that Boston residents, members of the business community and our many tourists are provided with safe, clean and efficient taxi service," Davis, whose Hackney Carriage Unit oversees Boston cabs, said in a statement. "The implementation and strict enforcement of these improvements will significantly enhance our local taxi service and provide a more customer-friendly experience."

Menino said requiring hybrid cabs would lead to cleaner air, reduce gas costs for drivers and improve service for customers.

Police Commissioner Davis has not been sitting around on his arse as his detectives, the FBI, and Attorney Donald Stern investigate BPD procedure, potential negligence, civil rights violations or criminal action.

Rather, Davis has been exploring ways to improve policing large crowds in Boston with direct and immediate oversight by human rights lawyers, a technique developed in Northern Ireland.

Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis yesterday recorded a message for his officers following former officer Robert Pulido's decision to plead guilty to federal corruption charges. It will be shown at police roll calls today. "We will not allow the loathsome actions of Robert Pulito and company to define who we are as a police organization," Davis says, vowing to go after the unnamed officers Pulido mentioned:

It's Suffolk DA Dan Conley vs. Police Commissioner Ed Davis over who gets to head up homicide investigations in Boston.

Kevin McCrea, for one, likes what he's heard so far:

Community policing and being proactive about crime seem to be proven techniques.