Cambridge Police Officers Promoted, A Glimpse Into The Department

CAMBRIDGE, MA — On Monday, June 4, the Cambridge Police Department held a promotional ceremony for five of it's officers. The officers promoted were all men, but the department says it's working on recruiting a diverse force.

Daniel Wagner was promoted to deputy superintendent. Antonio Ayala was promoted to lieutenant. Paul Gallagher was promoted to sergeant, as were Michael Medeiros, and Paul Coutinho.

Although all five of the promotions were men, prior to the promotions of the 276 police officers on the force, 27 of them (or about 10 percent) were women, including one with the rank of sergeant, one with the rank of deputy superintendent and one with the rank of superintendent.

The Associated Press ranked the Cambridge Police Department as one of the most balanced police departments in the country in 2014. They exceeded national standards in every category except women where they fell short by only 1 percent. In 2016 the department had 44 officers who were multilingual and spoke Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian/Creole, Chinese (Cantonese and Taiwanese), Greek, French, Tamil, Hindi, Arabic, Urdu and Russian.

And then Cambridge Police Spokesperson Jeremy Warnick said recruiting starts early with the Youth Resource Officers actively engaged in the schools, at our Youth centers and within various Human Services Programs (Hip Hop Transformation, Late Night Basketball, etc.).

"That extends into the Youth Police Academy and last year we hosted the most students in the history of that program," said Warnick of nearly 30 students.

More recently, the department has been speaking at various events at churches and the mosque with a focus on recruiting. Superintendent Elow and Deputy Superintendent Wells have also been working closely with the City of Cambridge Women’s Commission and recently participated in the YWCA Cambridge's Girls Only Leadership Development (GOLD) Career Day, which was held on May 23, said Warnick.

The 2010 U. S. Census found that 66.6 percent of Cambridge residents are White, 11.7 percent were Black, 15.1 percent were Asian or Pacific islander and 6.6 percent classified themselves as some other race or a member of two or more races. Hispanics total 7.6 percent of the population. 62.1 percent of the population is White and Non-Hispanic.

To see how that compares with the force:

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Photo up top courtesy Cambridge Police Department.

Pictured are the officers with the Command Staff from the Cambridge Police Department and City Manager DePasquale.