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LaCroix accepted as Waltham's new police chief [1]
['Denise Dubé']
Date: 2008-01-06
After extensive scrutiny and a grueling public interview at City Hall, Thomas LaCroix passed muster and will be sworn in as Waltham's new police chief on Jan. 14.
Waltham's next police chief follows in the footsteps of more than a dozen who have headed a department that was established in 1852 with a lone officer named James Coolidge.
LaCroix, nominated by Mayor Jeannette McCarthy, was a captain on the force when he became acting police chief in August, after Edward Drew's retirement on June 30. His formal appointment as Drew's replacement was unanimously approved by the City Council on Dec. 26.
The last few years of Drew's tenure were dogged by controversy. Drew, who served for 33 years, and his deputy chief, Keith MacPherson, were accused of giving preferential treatment to relatives on the police force. Last April, 85 police officers marched from St. Mary's to City Hall to support a sergeant who was banned from returning after sick leave.
On the occasion of LaCroix's appointment, officials are declining to discuss past troubles, and insist on a focus on the future.
"Many police officers and citizens have commented that they were pleased with the choice," McCarthy said a few days after the meeting in which the new chief's appointment was approved.
"I never saw this coming," the 44-year-old LaCroix said in his first interview after the appointment. "It is quite an honor for the mayor to have this much confidence in me."
LaCroix, who joined the force in 1986, talked about the two men who taught and inspired him during his 21 years with the department.
"I had two really good sergeants," LaCroix said, citing Detective Sergeant David Stanley and Lieutenant Richard Mancuso, a sergeant when LaCroix was a young officer.
Stanley, now living in Florida, spoke about LaCroix in a telephone interview. "Tommy was his own person. You knew he had promise," he said. "That's what is going to make him a good chief."
A Waltham native, LaCroix grew up in Cedarwood and went to Banks, Central Junior, and Waltham High schools. He graduated from Massachusetts Bay Community College in Wellesley, took classes at Bentley College, and finished his bachelor's degree in criminal justice at Western New England College's satellite school in Bedford. LaCroix later obtained a master's from Anna Maria College in Paxton, all while working on the Waltham force. He is married and the father of two children.
The new chief spent most of his career working nights, and moved through the ranks quickly. He became captain in May.
"There are a lot of things we have been doing right," LaCroix said. "We have a solid, well-educated, young police department."
The Waltham Police Department is state accredited, but LaCroix wants to seek national accreditation. He also wants to increase youth programs and emergency preparedness. "We want to be prepared for anything that comes our way," he said. "It's what good police and fire should be doing these days."
"I think the mayor has made a very good choice," said Ward 2 City Councilor Edmund Tarallo.
Tarallo said he was impressed with LaCroix's demeanor during his interview with the City Council on Dec. 17, when he was questioned for more than two hours. "I think he has shown in his short tenure that he's someone the officers and the rank and file have a great deal of respect for," Tarallo said. "I think he will serve the city very well."
Denise Dubé can be reached at
[email protected].
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
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[1] Url:
http://archive.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/01/06/applause_for_lacroix_as_new_chief/
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