The vibe at Victory Point on Marina Bay Thursday night was a celebration of great leaders and good friends. William Bratton, the Dorchester native who went on to lead the Boston, New York, and Los Angeles Police Departments, and William Gross, also a former BPD commissioner whose family moved to Boston during his childhood, were honored for their lifelong dedication to making their communities safer. Bratton and Gross were joined by Father Jack Ahern, pastor of St. Gregory Parish in Dorchester, and their longtime friend — and our founder and chairman — George Regan. Regan and Bratton first met 50 years ago when the former was Mayor Kevin White’s press secretary and the latter was a young, brash, up and coming lieutenant on the BPD. Bratton went on to revolutionize the field of policing during two stints as NYPD commissioner and a tenure as chief of the LAPD — the only person ever to lead the nation’s two largest police departments. Bratton changed big-city policing from a mainly reactive, incident-by-incident operation to a data-driven system that gave district commanders responsibility for identifying patterns and preventing crime. That style of policing is now standard operating procedure for all major US police departments, including Boston’s. The former commissioners were feted with a customized cake made by Montilio’s Baking Company in Quincy, presented by none other than baker extraordinaire George Montilio himself. Regan recalled how Mayor White recognized Bratton, as he rose through the BPD’s ranks, as an innovator in the progressive policing model that prioritized responsiveness to concerns of the city’s neighborhoods, and made him the public “face” of the department. Seen at the waterfront spot are (from left) Father Ahern, Commissioner Bratton, Montilio, Commissioner Gross, and Regan.
