Lowell Police Department

The Lowell Police Department (LPD) has the primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation for a population of about 107,000 in the 14.5-square-mile (38 km²) city of Lowell, Massachusetts. Lowell is the fourth-largest city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and is county seat of Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Gregory Hudon is the current superintendent of police. The department is a member of the North Eastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council, which provides specialized units throughout the region.

Like other urban American police forces, the Lowell Police Department was founded in the nineteenth century in response to rapid urbanization and industrialization. This brought an influx of immigrants in search of employment, increasing the city's population dramatically. In the late 1990s, Superintendent of Police, Edward F. Davis implemented innovative "community policing" strategies, which reduced Lowell's crime rate faster than any other American city with over 100,000 residents. In 2006, he left Lowell to become the commissioner of the Boston Police Department. Kenneth Lavallee succeeded him, continuing the community policing approach and reaching out to community and youth groups. In 2013, Deborah Friedl, although appointed temporarily, became the first woman chosen as police superintendent in the department's history.