Brian Mullan
Served 1974-2009
From police issues to a game of golf, Bruce Noble will always remember his best friend Brian Mullan’s analytical way in dealing with challenges.
“He was very logical,” Noble said about the former Hamilton police chief, who died July 19 of lymphoma. “He would come up with the best solution, instead of dealing with it in frustration. He was very intelligent.”
He also said he never really saw him get upset, even though he faced rough patches during his time as chief. This included the botched surrender of a dangerous man who later went on a murderous rampage, the arrest of an innocent black man for a crime committed by a white man and a missed deadline that caused a sexual harassment case involving 12 women in the service and a male sergeant to go unresolved for six years until an Ontario human rights tribunal settlement in 2011.
Spectator columnist Susan Clairmont once called Mullan one of the most beloved and criticized chiefs the city has ever had.
“He just never got rattled,” said Noble, a co-owner of PipeFlo Contracting Group, who had known Mullan for 44 years. “If there was a problem brewing, he’d come up with a solution. Everything he did, he stepped back and analyzed. He was a good friend. We had a few scotches together.”
Mullan’s death has brought condolences from politicians like Mayor Fred Eisenberger and MPP Donna Skelly to the Hamilton Police Association, the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Mullan turned 67 on May 31.
Mullan served as the sixth chief of the regional service, created by amalgamating Hamilton and suburban forces in 1974. He was on the job from 2003-2009.
His legacy includes upping the number of officers in the downtown, boosting the hiring of visible minorities and creating the four-horse Mounted police unit. He oversaw operations for the 1996 Grey Cup and Days of Action protest and pioneered the use of new civil forfeiture laws in shutting down the notorious Sandbar crack hotel.
He himself spoke of seeking solutions as an officer. “It’s not about your size or the weapons you carry,” he told The Spec in 2009. “Problem solvers — that’s all we are.”
Former mayor Larry Di Ianni called Mullan “a consummate professional.” He said one of his favourite moments with Mullan was an occasion when a tornado touched down on the central mountain and Stoney Creek in November 2005 and the city had to pull together its emergency team to deal with the situation.
“After things had subsided, he invited me to ride along with him to assess the damage,” said Di Ianni, elected mayor at the same time as Mullan became chief. “I saw his empathy, care for the city and concern for any who might have been affected during this emergency.”
Mullan grew up on the east Mountain and was the son of Scottish immigrants, Jack and Florence Mullan. His father worked at Stelco and his mother worked at the Royal Bank. He graduated from Barton Secondary School and took business administration at Mohawk College. Later, he took administration courses at McMaster University and the University of Toronto.
Mullan dreamed big when he joined the police force in 1974. He told a senior officer he wanted to be chief one day. He worked as an uniformed officer and in the youth office, fraud office, court services and human resources. He was promoted to staff sergeant, inspector and became the Mountain superintendent in 1998 and then deputy chief in 2001.
Premier Dalton McGuinty and former Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander attended his retirement party in November 2009, along with 400 other people. It was a fundraiser for CityKidz.
Mullan graduated from the FBI National Academy in 1994, received the Ontario Police Exemplary Service Medal in 1995 and was appointed to the Order of Merit for Police Forces in 2007. After he left policing, he served on the Parole Board of Canada and the provincial Judicial Approval Advisory Committee.
Mullan is survived by his wife Loretta,
daughters Ashley and Stephanie,
two grandchildren and his brother Wayne.
“I’ve had a fairly tough time in this job periodically,
but it’s the best job I’ve ever had,” Mullan told The Spec.
By Dan Nolan “The Hamilton Spectator”