Crisis Management
2017 NJSPBA
Mini-Convention
Boston chief inspires members with his lessons learned
at the Boston Marathon bombing
n BY AMBER RAMUNDO
Daniel Linskey carries the horror of the 2013 Boston Marathon
bombing with him everywhere. As one of the inspirational speak-
ers who keynoted the Mini-Convention, the former Superinten-
dent-in-Chief for the Boston Police Department shared what it
meant to be the person in command during an act of terror, and
the best way to keep the mental file cabinet of training and infor-
mation at the forefront of every disaster.
“I believe you need to train the way you fight, and fight the way
you train,” stressed Linskey at the start of his presentation, “Crisis
Leadership Lessons Learned: A Case Study of the Boston Mara-
thon Bombing.”
Linskey became a law enforcement officer Nov. 4, 1986, gradu-
ating from the academy at the top of his class alongside his old-
er brother. And his first experience on the job came three days
in when he made his first arrest while patrolling Boylston Street
during the Boston Marathon.
“I’m that guy,” Linskey stated. “I was a real cop before I became
a chief. I worked undercover, bought dope from bad guys, met
with organized crime groups in the projects. I did some really
heavy stuff as a cop before I became the boss.”
But it wasn’t until April 15, 2013, that he was confronted by his
greatest fear when two bombs exploded near the finish line of the
very event where his career was baptized 27 years earlier.
“You will not find a law enforcement official in the United
States of America who feared bombings more than me,” Linskey
shared, revealing he had responded to a bomb scene that took
the life of his best friend’s father in 1991. “I feared those bomb-
ings prior to April 15. They kept me up at night.”
The fear of bombs compels Linskey to stress the necessity of
response-to-terror training. He is part of The Urban Shield, a pro-
gram that prepares law enforcement officers for real-life disas-
ters so that they know how to respond to an attack before terror
lands in their neighborhood.
Linskey used his recall of the Boston Marathon bombings to
give members a look into what it means to be a leader when crisis
hits. He put them on the front lines of what it was like to be the
voice of command when faced with his worst nightmare – the
guilt he now lives with every day, knowing that a young boy and
two women lost their life on his watch.
“The same animals who attacked my marathon attacked your
shore,” warned Linskey, referring to the pipe bombs that explod-
ed a garbage can just before a charity run in Seaside Park this past
September. “They’re not going away. We have to be prepared for
them. You owe it to your organizations to be prepared for them.
You owe it to yourself to be prepared for them.”
When the bombs went off on Boylston Street taking the life of
an 8-year-old boy and two others, Linskey admitted that he first
froze in the center of commotion, momentarily forgetting all the
training that had made him Chief of Boston.
“The good news is, when disaster hits you’re not alone,” said
Linskey, referring to the 842 officers who were patrolling the
streets of Boston that day. It took a nearby officer to help Linskey
come to reality and take action through the chaos. “He looked at
me and he made me ‘it.’ I don’t know about you guys, but in that
moment, I didn’t like being ‘it.”’
He may not have liked being ‘it’, but Linskey rose to the oc-
casion, knowing that people’s lives depended on him. He took a
moment to look within himself to find the answers stored in his
file cabinet of experience, a file cabinet that exists within each
law enforcement officer who puts on the uniform and badge
each day to protect the lives of others.
“Every crime scene you’ve worked, challenge you’ve faced,
training you’ve passed, every seminar you’ve sat through; it’s all
held in the file cabinet,” assured Linskey. “I just hope I can help
give you some thoughts about how to retrieve that info and make
the cabinet open as quick as possible.” d
www.njcopsmagazine.com
■ MARCH 2017 33