Joseph M. Jordan

Joseph Michael Jordan (1922 – May 10, 2014) was an American law enforcement officer who served as Commissioner of the Boston Police Department from 1976 to 1985. He was the first uniformed BPD officer to rise through the ranks to become commissioner.

Early life Jordan was born in South Boston. He was the second youngest of six children. As a child, Jordan wanted to be a police officer. He was later named Superintendent-in-Chief, the second highest position in the BPD after Commissioner.

Commissioner On October 5, 1976, Mayor Kevin White announced that Jordan would succeed Robert diGrazia as Commissioner when diGrazia's retirement became effective on November 15. The announcement was considered surprising because White chose to make Jordan's appointment permanent and not conduct a nationwide search. White said that he chose to make the permanent appointment because he wanted to prevent speculation that would put the progress the department made during diGrazia's tenure in jeopardy. Jordan's appointment made him the first career officer to become permanent commissioner.

During his tenure as Commissioner, Jordan was criticized by the BPD’s two labor unions, who believed that his changes in procedure were a collective bargaining matter. In 1984, Jordan and his top commanders were sued by the Superior Officers Federation over working conditions.

He was also criticized by Clergy and Citizens for Justice, a Roxbury-based group that believed Jordan and members of his department were insensitive to the people of color in the community and guilty of brutality. Jordan denied the allegations of police brutality and dismissed the group as "ultra-liberals" who "[had] to criticize because that's their lifestyle". He pointed to the fact that the number of minority uniformed officers increased from 5 to 15 percent during his tenure as proof that he was not insensitive to minorities. However, on January 15, 1985, Jordan announced that he was retiring effective January 31. The announcement came after negotiations with the mayor's aides resulted in an agreement in which Jordan would return for one day to the rank of superintendent, which, as a uniformed officer, would entitle Jordan to a buy-back of accrued sick leave and unused vacation time.

After his retirement from the BPD, Jordan became an associate at Cass Associates, a Boston security consulting and investigating firm that developed security and drug programs for hospitals and technology companies.