Michael was born in August of 1961. He lived on Dorchester Avenue near Bellflower Street until his family moved to South Boston in1964 (ten days before the infamous Bellflower Street conflagration). He spent the next twenty years growing up in the Old Colony Projects in Southie.
Michael always wanted to become a Boston Police Officer for as long as he could remember. Two years after his graduation from Christoher Columbus High in the North End, he has his first chance to do so. On June 19, 1982, he signed up to take the Boston Police Cadet Exam, but four hours before he was scheduled to take the test there was a horrific accident on Dorchester Avenue near the bridge that took the lives of four young men under the age of twenty-one that he knew well. Michael’s father could tell how devastating this event was for Michael, but his father also knew how important taking the exam was to Michael’s future. Michael will never forget the best advice his father ever gave him when he said, “Mike, I don’t want to sound callous, but you’ve got to go and take this test and mourn those kids afterwards.” Michael went on to score well on the exam and in August of 1982, he became a Boston Police Cadet and was assigned over the next four years to District C-11 Dorchester, D-4 South End, Homicide, Operations and the Burglary Task Force.
In June of 1986, Michael became an officer with the Boston Police Department and was assigned to district C-11 where he stayed his entire forty-year career. During those forty years, he was lucky to have several outstanding partners and commanding officers one of whom was Captain Robert Dunford who appreciated Michael’s sense of humor and willingness to volunteer and assist at various community events and therefore assigned Michael in February of 2000 to the Community Service Office of C-11. Michael excelled at working with various members of the CSO team and hundreds of residents in Dorchester from 2000-2026.
Michael appreciates the support he has received over the years for the many events that he worked on annually including National Night Out, Bike Rodeo, Senior Boat Luncheon Cruise, Halloween, and of course, his favorite, the Christmas Party and toy drives.
Michael credits his forty-four-year long career with the Boston Police Department to the support from his mother, June; late wife Kate; sons, Christopher, Patrick and Michael; and his lovely wife Chrissy.
