In the late 1980s, after voters approved a charter update that allowed mayoral appointment, with council approval, of the police chief up to two, five-year terms, Thomas Sweeney became the first to serve.
Sweeney was among current and former law enforcement officials receiving community recognition at an awards ceremony Monday night.
When Sweeney was hired the city was in the throes of historic violent crime, plagued by the crack cocaine national epidemic, a decade-period of 50 to 70 murders a year. To compare, so far this year two homicides, both domestic related.
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