Ann Arbor police chief Michael Cox is leaving his position to become the Boston police commissioner.
Cox’s last day is July 31. His new role in Boston will begin on August 15, according to the Ann Arbor Police Department.
Cox grew up in Boston and spent 30 years in the Boston Police Department before becoming the Ann Arbor police chief in 2019. In 1995, he was beaten by fellow Boston police officers while working undercover in plain clothes as part of the gang unit responding to a call about a shooting. Cox began to chase the suspect and when he was just about to grab the suspect, who was scaling a fence when Cox was struck from behind.
Officers kicked and beat him on the ground until they realized he was a police officer and ran away. Cox sued in federal court, and proved the involvement of some officers. Some of those involved were fired, but others remained on the force.
In 2020, Cox was put on administrative leave from the Ann Arbor Police Department due to allegations that he created a hostile work environment and employees feared retaliation, and a separate accusation of insubordination.
But an investigation commissioned by the city of Ann Arbor concluded that there was no evidence that "the chief was behaving in such a way (yelling, etc.) as to create a hostile work environment. However, there is evidence that people feared retaliation by the Chief, and they had a legitimate basis for that fear, whether or not that was the chief’s intent."
Cox was reinstated soon after that.
Cox’s hire was the result of a six-month search process by the Boston Police Department according to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu at a press conference Wednesday.
