LYNN — After 3½ years as chief, Michael A. Mageary is calling it a career.
Mageary has been with the Lynn Police Department for 34 years and was appointed as chief by former mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy following an extensive search.
When Mageary was sworn in as chief in March 2017, he told a crowd of his fellow officers that he has “always been proud to be a cop, but more importantly, I’ve been proud to be a Lynn cop, and it’s because of the work you do every day.”
Monday, Mageary called his retirement a “difficult decision to make.”
“I have been contemplating it for some time,” he said. “My wife recently retired and I decided the time was right.”
Mageary’s decision to retire comes a month after Gov. Charlie Baker filed a police reform bill amid ongoing protests sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of a white Minneapolis police officer.
Several other Massachusetts police chiefs have also opted to retire recently, including ones in Revere, Salem, Newton and Framingham.
Following Floyd’s death in late May, Mageary issued a statement in support of citizens who were exercising their right to peacefully protest “the unnecessary death,” saying such conduct sheds a negative light on police officers nationwide.
A week later, the Lynn Police Department took out a full page ad in the Daily Item, signed by 169 officers, including Mageary, that condemned the incident and stated their commitment to work with the community to restore the trust that had been damaged as a result of it.
And last month, Mayor Thomas M. McGee and Mageary announced revisions to the department’s use-of-force policy.
Throughout his tenure as chief, Mageary has advocated for increased staffing levels, which have been limited by budget constraints.
Although a department spokesman said last week that crime is slightly up this year, there was an eight percent reduction in major crimes last year, which continued a three-year trend, according to the department’s annual report.
It’s unclear when Mageary’s retirement will become effective or who would be appointed to replace him.
Department spokesman Lt. Michael Kmiec said an official statement on the matter would be released Tuesday.
