Edward F. Davis III (born July 31, 1956) is the former police commissioner of the

Boston Police Department The Boston Police Department (BPD), dating back to 1854, holds the primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest municipal police department in the United States. The ...

, having served from 2006 to 2013, including during the

Boston Marathon bombing The Boston Marathon bombing was a domestic terrorist attack that took place during the annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Two terrorists, brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, planted two homemade pressure cooker bombs, w ...

. Following his resignation from the police, Davis has been the security analyst for

WBZ-TV WBZ-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent station WSBK-TV (ch ...

in Boston. He is the founder and CEO of Edward Davis, LLC Security and Management Consulting.

Early life

Davis graduated from

Bishop Guertin High School Bishop Guertin (BG) is a college preparatory independent private Roman Catholic high school in Nashua, New Hampshire. Named for Bishop George Albert Guertin (1869-1931), it was founded by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart in 1963. Scholastics ...

in Nashua, New Hampshire in 1974. He received a Bachelor of Science in

criminal justice Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other ...

in 1986 at

Southern New Hampshire University Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) is a private university between Manchester and Hooksett, New Hampshire. The university is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education, along with national accreditation for some hospita ...

. He received a Master of Science in criminal justice in 1990 at

Anna Maria College Anna Maria College is a private Roman Catholic college in Paxton, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1946 as a women's college, but has been coeducational since 1973. The school offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees. History Anna Mari ...

. Later he attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government's Program for Senior Government Executives and the Law Enforcement Executive Development Association program at the FBI Academy in

Quantico, Virginia Quantico ( or ; formerly Potomac) is a town in Prince William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 480 at the 2010 census. Quantico is approximately 35 miles southwest of Washington, DC, bordered by the Potomac River to the east ...

Law enforcement career

Lowell Police Department

Davis served on the Lowell Police Department from 1978 to 2006 when he was appointed Commissioner of the Boston Police Department. He held the positions of beat cop, Detective (1982–1984), Detective Sergeant (1984–1986) and Detective Lieutenant (1986–1992), before being promoted to Captain of the Narcotics and Organized Crime Unit in 1992. He was named Superintendent of Police, the highest-ranking officer in the Lowell Police Department in 1994. From 1994–99, he reduced the crime rate in Lowell quicker than any other American city with over 100,000 residents.

Boston Police Department

Davis was appointed the commissioner of the Boston Police Department on October 11, 2006. Davis is well known for his leadership during the

and subsequent manhunt. His actions during these events were dramatized in the film '' Patriots Day'', in which he was portrayed by

John Goodman John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He gained national fame for his role as the family patriarch Dan Conner in the American Broadcasting Company, ABC comedy series ''Roseanne'' (1988–1997; 2018), for which he rec ...

. On September 22, 2013, Davis announced his resignation from the Boston Police Department. He planned to become a visiting fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and also assist with a local non-profit helping offenders return to society. His final day as commissioner was November 1, 2013.

Later involvement

In 2022, Davis served on a panel appointed by Boston Mayor

Michelle Wu Michelle Wu ( zh, t=吳弭, first=t; born January 14, 1985) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the mayor of Boston, Massachusetts since 2021. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, she was t ...

to aid in the search for a commissioner of the Boston Police Department.

Personal

Davis was born and raised in

Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...

and remains a resident of his hometown with his wife Jane. Davis and his wife have three children (Edward, Kaitlyn and Phillip).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Ed 1956 births Living people Anna Maria College alumni Commissioners of the Boston Police Department People from Lowell, Massachusetts Southern New Hampshire University alumni Bishop Guertin High School alumni