Michael Cox sworn in as new Boston Police Commissioner
BOSTON -- Boston's new police commissioner was sworn in on Monday. Mayor Michelle Wu led the ceremony for incoming police commissioner Michael Cox at City Hall Plaza.
Cox is the 44th police commissioner in the city.
"In order to meet this moment, we need to come together to be successful change how we police. To do this we'll be looking to partner with the community and make this a reality through listening," Cox said after he was sworn in.
Cox was most recently the police chief in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but he is a Roxbury native and has been an officer for decades.
Wu said Cox is full of love for Boston - something she felt was apparent during his interview for the job.
"Immediately, I had a feeling settle in my chest that we might have done the impossible," Wu said. "Because I had been told that it would be impossible to find someone who could embody all the qualities, that Boston was looking for, in our police commissioner in this moment."
In 1995, while Cox was a Boston police officer, he was mistaken for a suspect and beaten by a group of his fellow officers. In 2020, Cox talked exclusively to the WBZ-TV about the incident. No one was ever charged in the beating and two of the officers involved in the incident are still on the department.
"I have worked to change policing since that incident occurred," Cox said Monday. "And I will continue to do all I can to make sure that no Black or Brown person, or any individual no matter what their gender, identity, or race, is the victim of any kind of unconstitutional policing."
"Growing up I was fortunate that I had parents, two parents that fled Jim Crow South to get away from the laws there, basically to have a better life for their family and they came to Boston, Roxbury in particular to do that," Cox continued. "I learned resiliency from them."
He also said his story is not special and that everyone is resilient, fighting their own battles in their own lives.