South Bostonians were justifiably proud when Mayor Walsh appointed one of our own, William Evans as Boston Police Commissioner. He followed in the footsteps of older brother Paul Evans, another hometown man and former hard-working commissioner to head up what is considered to be one of the finest police departments in the nation.
The Evans brothers know firsthand what a tough job being police commissioner is and how difficult it is to be on call 24/7 in service to the people. At some point, it becomes time to move on and spend more of that precious time with one’s family, as Bill Evans so nicely put it during his recent press conference. Enter new commissioner William Gross. Like the Evans brothers, William ‘Willie’ Gross is a cop’s cop, who worked his way up the ranks and possesses all the experience and qualifications needed to do the top job, because he’s spent his career doing it all, getting to know and working with every neighborhood of the city and the people who reside there.
Though we are sad to see our neighbor Bill Evans leave the job, we wish him the best of luck in his new career with Boston College and thank him for the excellent job he’s done. And having had the pleasure and the honor to have met and to get to know Commissioner William Gross and to have watched him over the years and to be so impressed with how he interacts with the people and community organizations in every part of the city, we cannot think of a better replacement for the job. Like the Evans brothers, he has the trust of the people of Boston and just as important, he has the trust of the hard-working members of the Boston Police Department.
During the press conference where the announcement was made, the reporters in the room made much of and were fawning over the fact that Commissioner Gross is the first African American Boston Police Commissioner in the city’s history. To which should be said – a person’s race should not matter for anything and especially for the job of the head of law enforcement in a major city, where only the most qualified person will do. In the selection of William Gross, Boston certainly does have the most qualified person and that is the most important thing.
