Michael A. Cox Sr. (born June 17, 1965) is an American police officer, currently serving as the
commissioner
A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something).
In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...
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 ...
.
Career
In 1995, while a member 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 ...
(BPD), Cox was severely beaten by fellow officers while working in plain clothes. The incident was initially "swept under the rug", but a lawsuit ultimately led to BPD settling with Cox for $900,000 in damages and attorneys' fees. His story was the subject of the book ''The Fence,'' written by author and former reporter
Dick Lehr
Dick Lehr (born May 3, 1954) is an American author, journalist and a professor of journalism at Boston University. He is known for co-authoring The New York Times bestseller and Edgar Award winner ''Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI and a Devil ...
of ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
''.
As of 2013, Cox had advanced to Deputy Superintendent in the BPD. By 2019, Cox had advanced to Superintendent, the second highest rank in the BPD, serving as leading the Bureau of Professional Development and the Police Academy.
In September 2019, Cox was sworn in as the
chief of police
Chief may refer to:
Title or rank
Military and law enforcement
* Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force
* Chief of police, the head of a police department
* Chief of the boa ...
for
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...
.
In July 2022, Cox was announced as the incoming
commissioner
A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something).
In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...
of the Boston police by
Mayor of Boston
The mayor of Boston is the head of the municipal government in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston has a mayor–council government. Boston's mayoral elections are nonpartisan (as are all municipal elections in Boston), and elect a mayor to a four- ...
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, mayor of Boston, Massachusetts since 2021. She is a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
. He was officially sworn in on August 15, 2022.
Personal life
, Cox was married with three children. At that time, an article in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' about Cox's 1995 beating identified one of his children as former
UMass Minutemen
The UMass Minutemen are the athletic teams that represent the University of Massachusetts Amherst; strictly speaking, the ''Minutemen'' nickname applies to men's teams and athletes only — women's teams and athletes are known as ...
and
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...