Dic Donohue

Retired MBTA Transit Police Sgt. Dic Donohue ’12 is a model of resiliency.

In 2013, Donohue was shot during a police firefight with the Boston Marathon bombers in Watertown. The next thing he knew, he was in the hospital, unable to walk.

Although Donohue returned to work after two years of grueling rehab, chronic pain forced him into early retirement. So he turned to teaching, starting as an adjunct at Fisher College. He enjoyed it and decided to pursue his Ph.D. in criminology at UML, where he completed his dissertation on police training methods – and accepted a job as a researcher at the RAND Corp.’s Boston office.

Donohue's primary areas of research focus on homeland security and law enforcement issues, including training, police-community relations, and recruitment/retention. Donohue has led Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center projects and tasks on law enforcement firearms qualifications, workforce assessments, and terrorism/targeted violence data evaluations. He is currently a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police Education and Training Policy Council and has recently published in Policing: An International Journal and the International Journal of Police Science & Management.

Prior to joining RAND, Donohue retired as a sergeant from the MBTA Transit Police Department, where he was awarded the George L. Hanna Medal of Honor and was recognized as a 2014 “Top Cops” recipient. He also worked as an instructor for the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s VALOR Officer Safety and Wellness Program and served as naval officer, in addition to volunteering with the American Red Cross. Donohue completed his Ph.D. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He also holds an M.A. in Criminal Justice from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, an M.A. in International Tourism from the University of Limerick, and a B.A. in History from the Virginia Military Institute.

His research and outreach work are his ways of continuing to serve, even out of uniform. “It comes back to staying engaged in the law enforcement community in retirement and hopefully being able to create some positive change and help the profession continue to grow,” he says.