BOSTON — Boston’s black leaders say they hope the city’s first African-American police commissioner will prioritize building a more diverse force and closing unsolved homicides cases in communities of color.
William Gross will be sworn in today. The 56-year-old entered the department in 1985 and has served as its second-in-command since 2014.
Activists say they will pressure Gross to address the dearth of diversity in the department and the number of killings that have gone unsolved in black communities.
Larry Ellison, head of the minority officers union, says Gross will also come up unfair demands to address all of the department’s systemic racial issues.
Gross replaces Commissioner William Evans, who is leaving for a job at Boston College.