Boston Marathon Bombing: Who is former Watertown police chief Edward Deveau?

Edward Deveau, the former police chief of Watertown, played a key role in the manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombers and shares lessons learned from the experience 10 years later.

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Edward Deveau, former police chief of Watertown, Massachusetts, played a pivotal role in the manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombers. Ten years later, Deveau reflects on the events of that fateful night, which he considers one of his greatest sources of pride. Today, he shares lessons learned from the bombings and the aftermath, and remembers the resilience and unity of the Boston community.

Edward Deveau, the former police chief of Watertown, Massachusetts, is a name that will forever be tied to the manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombers. On April 15, 2013, two homemade bombs exploded near the finish line of the marathon, killing three people and injuring hundreds more. In the aftermath, a massive search was launched to find the perpetrators, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his 26-year-old brother Tamerlan. The hunt ended in Watertown, where the brothers engaged in a shootout with police officers and Tamerlan was killed.

For Deveau, who was at home in bed when he received the call about the shootout, the events of that night were life-changing. “This went way beyond the training of my officers,” he recalls. “My officers had no warning at all and were thrown right into battle,” as reported by Boston Magazine.

Despite the odds, all three of Deveau’s officers survived the encounter. Looking back on the experience 10 years later, Deveau considers it one of his greatest sources of pride. “If we played this out, nine out of ten times, we would be sure to lose an officer or two,” he says. “But my officers were able to overcome that.”

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Today, Deveau is retired and living in Florida, but he still gives speeches to fellow law enforcement members and community groups about the lessons learned from the bombings and the aftermath in Watertown. For him, the most memorable aspect of the experience was the way the Boston community came together in the face of adversity. “That to me symbolizes ‘Boston Strong,’” he says. “It’s about an entire community that came together to help each other, to protect each other. That’s what I’ll always remember most.”