A former Boston Police Department deputy superintendent sued the BPD commissioner over being demoted.
Eddy Chrispin, who describes himself as a “Black Haitian man and a decorated 25-year veteran of the Boston Police Department,” says in his complaint that BPD Commissioner Michael Cox demoted him after he refused to follow an ultimatum.
The action filed Thursday in federal court in Boston names Cox as a defendant both individually and as commissioner of the BPD.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell appointed Chrispin to the state Peace Officer Standards and Training — or POST — Commission in May of last year. That June, Cox told Chrispin that “his service as a POST commissioner posed a conflict of interest with his service as a BPD Deputy Superintendent,” according to the suit. Chrispin claims that the AG’s office and State Ethics Commission informed him there was no such conflict.
“Commissioner Cox then gave Mr. Chrispin an ultimatum: either resign his position as POST commissioner or be demoted from his command staff position at BPD,” the lawsuit states. “When Mr. Chrispin responded that he would not resign from POST, Commissioner Cox demoted him.”
On July 3, 2024, Chrispin was demoted from the command staff to a detective sergeant position, according to the complaint.
Through his action, the suit alleges, Cox “unlawfully retaliated against Mr. Chrispin for expressing his rights” under the First Amendment and the state Declaration of Rights. Further, since there was no formal notice or hearing, it was also a violation of Chrispin’s rights to due process.
The Herald has reached out to BPD communications director Mariellen Burns for comment.
Chrispin immigrated from Haiti at seven years old and grew up in Mattapan where he attended public schools before earning a degree from UMass Boston in 1992, according to the suit. He then worked as a social worker for the state Department of Children and Families and then earned a law degree from Hofstra Law School in New York state in 1996.
He joined the BPD in 1999, spending his first seven years as a patrol officer in Roxbury before being moved to the media relations desk for another 5 ½ years. He was promoted to sergeant in 2018 and then to deputy superintendent in 2021 in the command staff of then-Commissioner Willian Gross.
The complaint states that Chrispin has been “a vocal and outspoken advocate” for transparency, accountability, and improving hiring and promotional opportunities for minority officers within the BPD. He has also been a longtime member of the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers, or MAMLEO, serving as the organization’s president from 2019 to 2021.
“Mr. Chrispin still serves the Commonwealth as a POST commissioner, but because of his demotion from a command staff position back to a Sergeant Detective position within the BPD, he works for a lower salary, fewer benefits, has less responsibility, and less opportunity for future advancement. The 25-year history of Mr. Chrispin’s successive promotions within the BPD, and law enforcement more broadly, is now effectively over,” the complaint states.
The demotion, the complaint alleges, “sends a message to all BPD officers and MAMLEO members that accepting an appointment as POST commissioner will effectively end an officer’s promotional opportunities within BPD.
“This message — that serving the Commonwealth on a Commission whose goal is to enhance police transparency and accountability is somehow fundamentally incompatible with serving in a leadership position within the Commonwealth’s largest municipal police department — weakens POST just as it is getting off the ground, and undermines its prospects for long-term credibility and effectiveness among law enforcement officers, which is vitally important for its future success,” the complaint continues.
Chrispin’s suit asks for a jury trial on allegations of first amendment retaliation, retaliation for exercising rights to freedom of expression and association, and violation of procedural due process.
Chrispin wants to be awarded “all damages available by law” including compensation of back pay and benefits, to be reinstated to his former rank of deputy superintendent, court fees, and “any other relief that this Court deems just and equitable.”
This is a developing story.