A police chief has been chosen for Somerville after a four-year search: Shumeane Benford, chief of the Boston Housing Authority Police Department and Boston’s chief of emergency management, the Office of Mayor Katjana Ballantyne announced Friday.
A three-year contact begins Sept. 16 for Benford to lead the Somerville Police Department at a salary of $225,000 annually, according to a contract coming before the City Council on Thursday. The contract includes two additional one-year options for the city to extend beyond the initial period ending Sept. 16, 2027.
Benford has had a 30-year career in law enforcement, starting as a police officer for the Boston Housing Authority in 1994. While rising through the ranks in stints with the Boston Police, City of Boston and Boston Housing Authority, he has also taught as an adjunct professor at Roxbury Community College. Benford is a lifelong Boston resident, according to Ballantyne’s office – save for the time he lived briefly in Somerville.
“Not only will our incoming chief bring a rare mix of law enforcement, emergency management and teaching experience to the role, Benford is a change agent. He has been driving fiscal, operational and community-driven reforms in Boston, along with advancing efforts to support staff morale and investment, transparency and social equity especially for marginalized and disenfranchised communities,” Ballantyne said. “We look forward to his deep experience, vision and love of community undergirding our daily work to keep Somerville safe as well as advancing our efforts to move our Public Safety for All goals forward.”
Benford holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Curry College and master’s degree in political science from Suffolk University.
The department he will oversee has 127 sworn officers and 32 civilian personnel working at three police stations. The department’s operations, programs and initiatives are covered by a $19.7 million budget, including crime analysis, detective bureau, patrol, special operations, professional standards and traffic enforcement, according to city information.
With council confirmation of the appointment Thursday from the council, Benford will be set to lead and interim chief Charles Femino will be able to step down.
After the retirement of police chief David Fallon and deputy chief Stephen Carrabino in December 2020 and January 2021 – they announced their departure the previous March after 25 and 28 years of service, respectively – the city named Femino to fill in “until a permanent chief is appointed.” Femino, who also served as interim chief in 2013, has been in the role since January 2021. After coming out of retirement, Femino is now halfway to Fallon’s entire seven-year tenure as the head of the department.
A selection committee was convened that recommended three candidates, and the committee recommended one for mayoral approval after public interviews held Oct. 10. In November, Ballantyne rejected the candidate and convened a second committee with some different members.
The consultants GovHR USA of Illinois came on in December, in an extension of a contract from the previous spring, to help find new candidates. The second process ran Jan. 9 to March 1 and found 27 candidates. Eight were presented to the second committee and four were selected for in-person interviews, though by the time of those May 7 and 9 meetings, one of the four had dropped out, the city said in a memo to the council.
Benford was the candidate presented to the mayor for approval, and the three months of silence from the Mayor’s Office since a public comment period ended May 16 has been to protect the privacy of the candidates during negotiations, a city spokesperson said.
“I want to sincerely thank our entire Police Chief Search Committee, including at-large councilor Jake Wilson, for their diligence and commitment to the very serious responsibility of selecting a new chief for our community who brings both the deep professional chops and the community-centered approach to public safety that Somerville seeks,” Ballantyne said.
Femino was owed “an enormous debt of gratitude” for stepping in, Ballantyne said, promising separate honors for “his service, legacy and departure.”
“I know he looks forward to welcoming his successor along with the rest of the community,” Ballantyne said.
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