FROM RELENTLESS DETECTIVE TO ACCESSIBLE CHIEF
Mary R. Lyons—Mattapoisett, Massachusetts
 

“When I go somewhere for the first time, I just stick out my hand and introduce myself. It’s hard not to know me,” explained Mary R. Lyons, chief of the approximately 30 full-time and part-time-person Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, Police Department. 

Although this makes her sound quite bold, modesty prevented her from recounting how she became well-known in her small community, first in 1985 as the town’s first female patrol officer, and later, in 1997 and 1998, when, as a one-woman sex crimes unit, she was the first person to believe a number of teenaged girls who said they had been raped by a popular Old Rochester Regional (ORR) Junior High School gym teacher who was also a high school coach. The girls were shunned by classmates and adults in the community. Supporters of the teacher wore white ribbons to show their support until Det. Lyons spoke with school officials about the pain this was causing the victims. 

The case involving the popular teacher did not make the national news media, but it drew vast local interest and then-Det. Lyons often found herself on the pages of the Standard-Times. She recalled that most of the town “was still in denial” over the case, but that she “handled it as best I could have under the circumstances. I would never, she said, “do what I did in that case unless there had been something to pursue. I would have been the first to say there’s nothing there if that had been the case.” 

Downplaying her headlining-making efforts is typical, but Chief James Moran, the man who hired her and supported her during the investigation, and whom she replaced as chief when he retired remembered the case somewhat differently. “She was basically a one-man show,” he said then, remembering that she was “relentless” in following each lead in the case as more victims sought her out. 

The Plymouth County prosecutor who handled the case agreed. “She dedicated a monumental amount of time and went far beyond the normal investigation,” he told the 
media on Jan. 8, 1998. “She basically did whatever I needed her to do. She did a massive amount of background investigation to find other victims. That turned out to be a turning point in the case. She talked to as many people in the town that were facing this wall of denial. She would get shreds of information, names,” he said after the teacher/coach pled guilty to raping two students after attempts to portray the victims as liars. Ultimately, to pull the case together, Lyons spoke with about 100 former students; some cooperated and others seemed to want to forget whatever crimes may have involved them personally. 

AN EARLY TASTE FOR POLICING

Lyons, who is single, wasn’t exactly born to be a cop, but both her father and an older brother were members of the Waltham Police Department, the town in which she and her parents and seven brothers and sisters grew up while also spending summers in Mattapoisett. Yet it would be incorrect to assume that her path led directly to policing. 
Chief Lyons graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1981 from Southeastern Massachusetts University (now UMass Dartmouth) and recalled that everyone—friends and family and particularly her mother—“thought I’d be a great nurse.” She didn’t become a nurse, but she did become a social worker. She worked in an outreach and tracking program for delinquents in the custody of the Department of Social Services, but when the chief of her alma mater offered a job as the first female officer on the university police force she changed careers. 

Her family had a summer home in Mattapoisett and since now lived near there and worked nights at the college, she also took a day job as an emergency medical technician in the town, where the ambulance service is provided by the police department. Although her social work background helped her in investigations, it was the EMT job that ultimately led her to become a police chief. Lyons often chatted with police officers after completing an ambulance call, and a number of them encouraged her to apply for a police position. “At the time,” she recalled, “there were two part-time female officers and one-full time woman, but they all worked inside.” She accepted a part-time position with the department, but when an offer for a full-time job came, she turned it down because it would have meant working inside. Never shy and never afraid to ask, when the chief told her that the position might “someday” lead to a road patrol position, she said her exact response was: “Someday isn’t good enough.” Since she worked outside with her male colleagues at the university, she saw no reason to limit herself to working a non-patrol assignment. 

“Someday” came soon. Rather than being put off by her refusal, Chief Moran was intrigued. A week later he partially reversed course. “He said,” she recalled at the time she was named chief, “that maybe something could be worked out eventually. I said that sounds good and a week later still, he offered me a job on patrol.” Playing somewhat hard to get led to her appointment on June 30, 1985; she became the first female officer to work a patrol shift in the town. It took her about eight years to become a full-time detective and she also found the time to obtain a master’s degree in criminal justice from Anna Marie College.

BUILDING A REPUTATION IN A SMALL TOWN

Although Mattapoisett is a small community with far from a high crime rate, there was plenty of work for Det. Lyons. She worked undercover on drug investigations in nearby communities, often because a woman was needed to fit in to certain situations that would have been difficult or impossible for a man; she was the lead investigator in 2002 case involving a man charged with using the Internet to lure a 13-year-old local girl to Virginia, helped catch a local computer hacker accused of credit card fraud, and also handled less high-tech, traditional burglaries and other crimes.

Along the way, in May 2000, she was promoted to detective sergeant and placed in charge of the department’s detective division. 

Her personality has led her to assume responsibilities in many organizations and to continue training and education, but, like many women negotiating a male workplace, she never paid much attention to recreational matters until a good friend, a former colonel in the State Police, advised her to learn how to play golf. “I’m on the short side and don’t have the most athletic build, and in this climate I couldn’t imagine golf would be important, but he was right. It has certainly helped, particularly at state chief’s association meetings,” she said recalling her surprise at how important an ice-breaker this has been at conferences where she often the only woman present. “And he’s still a friend and I still golf with him,” she added.

The reluctant golfer even served as the chairperson of the tournament committee of her regional chief’s association. She has remained involved with emergency medical work also, and has served on the board of directors for the Southeastern Mass EMS Council.

GOLF WASN’T THE ONLY SUGGESTION 

Lyons’ decision to apply for the chief’s position came from the urging of officers within the department. She and a number of others thought that the chief was supporting another sergeant, but when a committee was formed to undertake a nationwide search, guys she worked with urged her to re-consider. “They were quite persistent. I explained to one particularly officer why I was not applying. After some discussion he said, ‘If you are not going to apply for yourself, then you need to apply for the rest of us.’ So I did.” 

In addition to encouragement from her colleagues, Chief Lyons said that part of her decision to “go for it” was based on earlier women pioneers who, even if they did not become chiefs, made her acceptance easier throughout her career. She recalled feeling that she was ready for the challenge and thinking that since the department was well-run and did not require any drastic overhauling there was no reason she, as an insider with 15 years of experience, should not get serious consideration for the position.

Her presumption proved accurate. The original 34 applications were whittled down to four, including another sergeant in the department. Lyons was the only woman. When the town’s selectmen, who had taped the interviews with the four finalists and had planned to air them on a local TV channel, learned that Lyons was the only one on each member’s two-name short list, they decided to cut short the process and offer her the position. “We felt,” said the selectmen’s chairman, “that since Mary had received the support of each member of the board, we should move forward.” 

They were particularly impressed with the investigations she had led but also that she had a strong educational background, was well-known locally, and had played a large role in establishing a number of programs that had strong community support, including establishing the position of school resource officer and setting up a senior calling program. Although they were aware that there were few women chiefs in the state, the chairman said they were more interested in making the right choice than in making history. 

At the time Lyons was named chief she was the only woman in the department, a situation that came about in 1996 when the other full-time woman retired. Her selection as chief was not only a first for her department but also a rarity within the state. Of the more than 350 cities and towns in Massachusetts, fewer than 10 cities and university (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) had women chiefs. Today the numbers are not much higher, but Boston, the state’s largest city and largest municipal police department is also headed by a woman—Commissioner Kathleen O’Toole.

The new chief, like many others in similar situations, downplayed her sex, saying that she was proud—and pleased—that her “qualifications, not my gender” got her the job and she also stressed, as did the selectmen, that her familiarity with and popularity within the community played a large role in her selection. Lyons also noted that her selection as an internal candidate opened the door for another promotion since someone would have to take her place as head of the detective division. That she would immediately think of how her good fortune would help another member of the department goes a long way to explaining why her promotion met with goodwill within the agency. 

Two aspects of her qualifications that she has not played down but has combined inside and outside the department are her abilities to network and her interest in advancing education and training for police officers. She is the immediate past president of the Plymouth County Police Chief’s Association and during the years she was “working her way through the chairs to president” she and a number of other chiefs founded the Southeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council. Other chiefs agreed on the need for a group to keep up with current trends in the field; by 2006, 21 communities participated in the LEC and Chief Lyons served as president. In addition, she is currently the first vice president of the Southeastern Mass Police Chief’s Association and will serve as president in 2007. There are more presidencies in her future; she was recently elected sergeant at arms for the Massachusetts Chief’s of Police Association and will move through five positions to eventually become president of the statewide association. 

BLENDING EMERGENCY SERVICES 

Her continued involvement with EMS activities is important to one of the few problems she saw facing the department when she became chief on Jan. 1, 2001. As in many cities, small ones like Mattapoisett and much larger ones like New York City, the police and fire departments are often at odds over control of response to medical emergencies. She said she hoped for a “thaw in the sometimes chilly” relations between the two departments. Although she underlined that emergency medical services would continue to be controlled by the police, she foresaw that growth in the community could one day lead to the need for a full-time fire department. 

Toward that end, she hoped to open the paramedic program to non-police officers, specifically to firefighters who had expressed interest in gaining certification. Chief Lyons could certainly understand their interest; in addition to serving as chief, she is the director of emergency management and the director of emergency medical services for the town. Mattapoisett provides all advanced life support services through the Police Department. All police officers are EMTs and a large number are also paramedics. 

She has also maintained her own EMT license, and is she is certified as an open water diver, an underwater search and rescuer, and an ice rescuer in addition to such more traditional police certifications as a law enforcement trainer and a child abuse and rape investigator. In what seems a logical decision based on her varied background and training, she is also one of three police chief’s on the regional Homeland Security Council.

Although she considers herself a veteran chief by now, Chief Lyons says everyday is a learning experience. “I had to become a leader, a grant writer, an administrator, and fill countless other roles. You don’t have to be a man to be a chief, but you do have to think on your feet because policing doesn’t do enough to prepare its members to be administrators,” said, thinking out loud that maybe she could find a way to add that issue to the long list of changes to the profession she still hopes to make.