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BPD commissioner won’t face state review, despite push from Karen Read’s attorney
Alan Jackson had called for Commissioner Michael Cox to face a disciplinary review over his comments about a witness from Read’s case.
Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox won’t face a disciplinary review over his comments on the Karen Read case, the state’s police oversight board said Thursday, responding to a call to action from Read attorney Alan Jackson
As head of the city’s police department, Cox “is a civilian executive, not a sworn law enforcement officer,” wrote Enrique A. Zuniga, executive director of the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission.
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Zuniga wrote in response to a scathing letter Jackson penned last month, which alleged Cox had been “caught in a lie” in his remarks about a former officer whose explosive testimony made headlines during Read’s second trial.
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Speaking to reporters on July 10, Cox denied pressuring then-Boston Police Officer Kelly Dever into changing her testimony and claimed he didn’t even know she was associated with Read’s high-profile case — a statement Jackson decried as “patently false” and “a bald-faced lie.”
Dever was working for the Canton Police Department when Read’s boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, was found unresponsive in the snow on Jan. 29, 2022. Prosecutors alleged Read drunkenly backed her SUV into O’Keefe while dropping him off at a fellow Boston officer’s home, but Read maintained she was framed in a massive coverup.
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Jurors ultimately acquitted Read of murder and manslaughter charges in June, convicting her only of a drunk driving misdemeanor.
Taking the stand earlier that month, Dever denied seeing “anything unusual” in the Canton police sallyport the day O’Keefe died, though she admitted she initially told federal investigators she had seen witness Brian Higgins and then-Chief Kenneth Berkowitz spend “a wildly long time” in the garage while Read’s SUV was there. In a testy back-and-forth with Jackson, she called her earlier statement a “false memory” and explained she was later reminded she had left the station before Read’s SUV even arrived.
Dever also confirmed she spoke with Cox prior to taking the stand, though she maintained he didn’t try to sway her testimony and “just wanted me to tell the truth up here.”
Dever resigned from the Boston Police Department in September.
Casting doubt on Cox’s claim that he “didn’t even know” Dever was associated with the Read case, Jackson called for the POST Commission to launch “a full disciplinary review for dishonesty, lack of candor, and conduct unbecoming an officer.” He also demanded Cox be referred for immediate inclusion on Suffolk County prosecutors’ Brady list, which is used to track law enforcement officials whose credibility has been called into question.
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According to city officials, Cox “does not personally carry out police duties and functions,” Zuniga noted in his response. He said the POST Commission thus far has not required non-sworn civilian executives to obtain law enforcement certification, nor has the commission subjugated them to other statutory and regulatory provisions governing sworn officers.
“However, the Commission is currently re-examining its policies regarding civilians who are involved in overseeing law enforcement agencies,” Zuniga wrote, adding, “Your comments have been influential with respect to the Commission’s ongoing refinement of its policies concerning the treatment of civilian authorities.”
Cox, for his part, has seemed eager to put the Read case behind him.
“What I need, you know, is not to be asked this question ever again, because it’s not … pertaining anything to do with the police department,” he told Boston 25 News when asked about Jackson’s demands earlier this month.
“My condolences to the O’Keefe family for what they’ve gone through, because we did lose a department member,” Cox added. “But outside of that, this has nothing to do with us, and I’m not going to speak on this again.”
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