By Mary Whitfill, News Staff
Boston police Superintendent William Evans rose in the ranks once again as he was appointed to acting commissioner, replacing Ed Davis who stepped down earlier this month. Since working his way up from a patrolman, Evans has over 30 years of Boston Police Department (BPD) service.
Evans’s appointment was one of the last mayor Thomas M. Menino will make before leaving office in January. Evans will serve in this position until Mayor-Elect Marty Walsh can appoint a permanent police commissioner in 2014.
“I am honored and humbled that Mayor Menino has entrusted me to lead the Boston Police Department,” Evans said in a statement. “I have spent my entire career with the Boston Police Department and have a deep respect for all its members.”
Evans garnered public recognition for his response to the Boston Marathon bombings in April, as well as his handling of the Occupy protests.
“The Boston Police Department will be in great hands under the leadership of Bill Evans,” Menino said in a statement. “He knows how to manage his team of talented officers, has the respect of the rank and file and has proven his ability to diffuse even the most difficult of public safety situations.”
An avid runner who has completed 44 marathons around the world, according to Suffolk Magazine, Evans participated in April’s Boston Marathon just hours before rushing to assist uniformed officers following the bombings.
As superintendent, Evans worked with FBI agents to shut down the crime scene; he worked security for President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross’ interfaith service two days after the Marathon; and he took charge of officers in Watertown as they searched for alleged bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
“He was the one who kept everyone in line after the bombings, he responded to where the bomber was in the boat,” Mark Parolin, vice-president of the Boston Police Superior Officers Federation (BPSOF), said. “He’s the one who took control and he’s the reason no one else got hurt that day. He was an excellent choice [for commissioner], he has extensive credibility.”
In 2011, Evans served as one of the main men on the ground dealing with protestors and organizers of the nationwide movement. Evans worked to gain the trust and respect of protestors, eventually getting to know them on a personal level and exchanging cell phone numbers, according to a Boston Globe report.
“He did an excellent job with the occupy protests,”Jack Kervin, president of BPSO, said. “A lot of other cities had problems. The occupy people were a radical group, but he went down, forged a personal relationship, gave them his cell phone. He always made a point to stop by the protests, speak to their leaders and when it was time to move those people off of the property, he did it in a peaceful non-violent way.”
Evans began his police work in 1980, when he joined the BPD cadete program before graduating from Suffolk University in 1982 and joining the force full time with District Four in the South End. There, he served as a patrolman for five years, before becoming sergeant, then lieutenant, ranks he earned by scoring in the top of his class on each test.
“[Evans] is an extremely moral, ethical individual. He’s always been on the front lines,” Parolin said. “Usually you don’t get command people who get along with everyone, but he has support from all of the community and his own men.”
In 1994, Evans’ brother Paul Evans became police commissioner and three years later William Evans became captain, assigned to the Allston-Brighton, Back Bay neighborhood, the second busiest precinct, according to Kervin. In 2009, Evans was appointed to superintendent of the Uniformed Branch, a position he assumed after 12 years of serving as captain in various Boston neighborhoods.
As commissioner, Evans will oversee every police officer in Boston, communicating with captains to fight crime and organize security at large events in the city. Additionally, he will be responsible for the overall administration of BPD, establishing procedures and internal policies.
When necessary, Evans will also act as the official BPD representative when dealing with federal agencies such as the FBI.
“The commissioner is responsible for running the BPD 24/7, 365 days of the year,” Kervin said. “He’s the commander, like a general in the army. Hopefully this isn’t temporary. Hopefully this is a permanent assignment.”
