{"id":67,"date":"2026-05-12T17:36:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T17:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=67"},"modified":"2026-05-12T17:36:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T17:36:55","slug":"beloved-elow-missed-was-under-internal-investigation-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=67","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Beloved\u2019 Elow missed; was under internal investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Weeks after the sudden retirement of former City of Cambridge Police Commissioner Christine Elow, even community members who knew her well still have more questions than answers.<\/p>\n

Read more The 11 ballot questions Mass. voters might face<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cShe would always say that \u2018I love my job.\u2019 So, you can imagine the shock,\u201d said Rev. Irene Monroe, a prominent local theologian who has known Elow for decades. Monroe said she reached out to Elow to check on her personally but was met with \u201cdeafening silence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monroe has long been involved with issues related to Cambridge\u2019s policing. In 2009, she was on an ad hoc committee to help improve the Cambridge Police Department following an incident where Sgt. James Crowley, a White officer, arrested Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., a Black man, for allegedly breaking into his own home. The event led to the \u201cbeer summit\u201d between the two men and then-President Barack Obama at the White House.<\/p>\n

Monroe said policing in Cambridge has improved in the years since, especially under Elow and her predecessor, Bran Bard, who left for a role at Johns Hopkins University in 2021. During Elow\u2019s tenure as Commissioner, Elow implemented a department-wide body camera program and championed more diversity in the hiring of officers.<\/p>\n

Monroe said the department still has issues, referring to the 2023 police shooting of Sayed Faisal\u00a0 as an \u201cegregious blunder.\u201d But when asked if she thought Elow was well-liked in the community, Monroe offered a different word: \u201cbeloved.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s also Cambridge\u2019s native daughter,\u201d Monroe said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what policing should be. It should be people who are from the community that have seen the changes in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elow was also lauded by Michael Monestime, president of the Central Square Business Improvement District (BID). \u201cShe was always present in the community, cared deeply about Cambridge, and often spoke proudly about rising through the ranks from being a beat officer in Central Square to ultimately becoming Commissioner,\u201d he told Cambridge Day via email. Elow is a former board member of the BID. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe was deeply rooted in this community,\u201d Monestime said.<\/p>\n

Internal investigation<\/h2>\n

Some members of City Council said they were puzzled. Councillors Patty Nolan and Ayah Al-Zubi confirmed with Cambridge Day that they had not been given any information about the nature of Elow\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n

While the reason she left remains unknown, a city official confirmed an internal investigation related to Elow was being conducted at the time of her retirement. It is now closed.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause Commissioner Elow has retired, the internal investigation is no longer active,\u201d City Director of Media Relations Jeremy Warnick told Cambridge Day in an email. \u201cSince the investigation was not completed prior to her retirement, there was no final determination into its findings. Without a completed investigation or definitive findings, the City will not provide further comment on that matter.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more At least one injured by shots fired on Memorial Drive<\/a><\/p>\n

Cambridge Day has submitted a public records request for the investigation\u2019s preliminary findings.<\/p>\n

News of the investigation was first reported by The Boston Globe, which also obtained a copy of Elow\u2019s severance agreement, in which Cambridge agreed to pay Elow $309,000. The agreement said Elow had left \u201cfor personal reasons.\u201d Warnick confirmed the provisions of the employment agreement, and said the city honored it \u201cin recognition of her long career and dedication to the Police Department and Cambridge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elow\u2019s retirement came less than a year-and-a-half into a four-year contract, according to other city records obtained by Cambridge Day. Elow was making an annual salary of $285,000 per year and was eligible for a $3,000 raise in January 2027. According to city data, Elow was the third-highest paid official in the city, after City Manager Yi-An Huang and Deputy City Manager Cathy Watkins.<\/p>\n

Councillor Nolan found the details of the severance agreement troubling. \u201cI\u2019m disappointed that the city would negotiate a $300,000 additional payment to an employee who was resigning,\u201d Nolan told Cambridge Day Wednesday. \u201cI respect the work Commissioner Elow did. It\u2019s not at all about that. It\u2019s about fiduciary responsibilities as public servants.\u201d<\/p>\n

The uncompleted investigation was also a concern. Nolan said some disciplinary circumstances for public sector employees require that information is kept private, but \u201cif it\u2019s a matter that was not personnel related, then I think the public would have a right to know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nolan noted Elow\u2019s legacy as the first woman to lead Cambridge\u2019s police force.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s an incredible role model. Even today, there\u2019s certainly not parity with women in police forces, and even fewer as you go up the chain of command,\u201d Nolan said. \u201cThere are people for whom she is looked up to \u2026 with a lot of respect. So, to leave in this way is unfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHer retirement came as a surprise because it happened suddenly, but honestly, the details of that are not my business,\u201d Monestime said. \u201cI hope this next chapter is one that brings her peace, happiness, and time with her family, and that it happened on her terms.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was updated to add comments from Michael Monestime, president of the Central Square Business Improvement District<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Read more $100K in state funding earmarked for Porter Square sculpture<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Weeks after the sudden retirement of former City of Cambridge Police Commissioner Christine Elow, even community members who knew her well still have more questions than answers. Read more The 11 ballot questions Mass. voters might face \u201cShe would always say that \u2018I love my job.\u2019 So, you can imagine the shock,\u201d said Rev. Irene […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,8],"class_list":["post-67","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-public-safety","tag-cambridge-police-department","tag-public-safety"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Beloved\u2019 Elow missed; was under internal investigation - Cambridge Moving Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=67\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Beloved\u2019 Elow missed; was under internal investigation - Cambridge Moving Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Weeks after the sudden retirement of former City of Cambridge Police Commissioner Christine Elow, even community members who knew her well still have more questions than answers. 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