On a recent Friday morning, Evandro Carvalho set up a meet-and-greet at a diner on Bowdoin Street, waving the banner of the city Office of Police Accountability and Transparency. He was there to convince anyone who pulls up a chair that the city agency he heads is finally ready to bring unprecedented civilian oversight to Boston police.
“You can come to our office and file a complaint against the Boston Police Department,” Carvalho said to Oslin “Coach Jack” Mayhew, a trim, 69-year-old youth soccer coach in an Adidas tracksuit.
“Yeah?” responded Mayhew, who until then had been telling Carvalho about the finer points of calisthenics.
“In case anything happens,”Carvalho said.
Such is the sales job facing the 43-year-old Carvalho, a former Suffolk prosecutor and state prosecutor, who last year took charge of the office that was created in the wake of the George Floyd killing to strengthen civilian review of misconduct allegations against Boston police.
In its four-plus years, the office was beset by turnover and vacancies, failed to hold public meetings and produce public reports, had its website go dark for months, and only two of its recommendations for discipline were upheld by Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox — both resulting in oral reprimands.