Boston's top cop tells Congress lessons learned from marathon bombings

WASHINGTON -- Boston’s top cop appeared before a congressional committee on Capitol Hill Wednesday.

Lawmakers invited Commissioner William Evans to reflect on security issues as Boston marks five years since the marathon bombings.

Evans told the House Homeland Security Committee the biggest lesson learned from the 2013 attack is the that timely sharing of information between law enforcement agencies is crucial to protecting communities from threats and saving lives.

“The importance of collaboration between federal, state and local law enforcement partners has only reaffirmed,” Evans told the committee.

The commissioner cited last month’s deadly package bombings in Austin, Texas as another example of various agencies working together to stop a dangerous person.

“Like Boston, the residents of Austin stood strong in the face of adversity, while its local leaders stood with one voice, one message, working to ease public tension while hunting for the killer,” Evans said.

Evans said an example of vital information sharing also happened locally last month when New England Patriot Wide Receiver Julian Edelman was alerted to a threat a teenager in Michigan posted to the football star's Instagram account.

Boston police were called and they forwarded the information to police in Michigan.

“We were able to bring that person into custody before he threatened to shoot up a school, which shows the importance of information sharing,” Evans said.

Before his remarks, Commissioner Evans took a moment to recognize Yarmouth Police Sergeant Sean Gannon, who was shot and killed in the line of duty last week. He was laid to rest Wednesday.

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