'Never forget where you came from': One-on-one with Commissioner Evans

As Boston Police Commissioner William Evans gets set to retire from the position next month, he sat down with Boston 25 News for one final one-on-one interview.

Evans has been with the department for 39 years, sacrificing his life on the front lines in Boston in tough situations for almost four decades.

"It's hard to believe how quickly the years have gone by," Evans said.

Evans is set to retire from the job on August 3, before he moves on to a position at Boston College as executive director of public safety and chief of police.

>>MORE: Evans leaving Boston Police Dept., Chief Gross named new commissioner

"I'll always be a cop," Evans said. "When you go to the top, you shouldn't forget where you came from, and that's always been my motto. Never forget where you came from."

Evans is an avid marathon runner, but found himself at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon when two bombs exploded.

"When you talk about a moment in your career that stands out, those five days were sort of traumatic for me," Evans said.

Evans headed up the Boston Police Department's tactical team, and it was his order not to shoot that led to the capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

"I didn't want him to come out dead," Evans said. "At the time, we didn't know anything about what his mission was, his accomplices, we had too much information to gather from him."

Evans also stressed community policing as commissioner, wanting the department to earn the trust of the community it serves.

That approach, remembered by many as the reason for ideas like the Boston Police ice cream truck, is one that will long be remembered.

"I hope the legacy is, I tried the hardest, that I was a cop's cop, and, more than anything, that I treated people the way they wanted to be treated," Evans said. "Also, I never forget where I came from."

Cox Media Group