By Cary Shuman
Revere Police Capt. Amy O’Hara, a member of a prominent Revere family that has served for four generations in local and state law enforcement, was honored at a retirement celebration Monday at the Revere Police Station.
Mayor Patrick Keefe presents a Certificate of Recognition to Capt. Amy O’Hara in honor of her 32 years of dedicated service in the Revere Police Department.
As her husband, Revere High School Athletic Director Frank Shea, and their son, soon-to-be-high-school graduate Frankie Shea and members of the O’Hara family looked on proudly, Amy O’Hara received much praise for her outstanding 32-year career.
Executive Officer Sean Randall said, “It’s only appropriate that I’m up here because I welcomed Amy O’Hara to the police department as her field training officer in 1994, yet somehow she’s retiring before me.”
“We rode the bicycle unit together, and now she’s risen up the ranks,” added Randall. “She’s been here a long time. She’s been a great employee, obviously she has a lot of great friends here. And today we’re here to wish her well in the next step of her journey.”
Mayor Patrick Keefe presented a Certificate of Recognition from the City of Revere to Capt. O’Hara.
“Captain O’Hara’s 32 years of service in one field just shows the amount of commitment and dedication she has,” said Keefe. “The O’Hara family is no stranger to the city when it comes to the level of service in public safety that they’ve done between the fire department, the police department, and the state police. I appreciate your significant contributions to the city for over 32 years. I only hope that I can do that much for our community in the time that I’m here.”
Sgt. Joseph Internicola, president of the Revere Superior Officers Association, and Sgt. Dennis Hickey, vice-president of the Superior Officers, presented a beautiful plaque to Capt. O’Hara.
“Capt. O’Hara is obviously the testament here to the amount of people in this room to show how many people care about her,” said Hickey. “From my experience, I know how committed she is and how passionate she is, and how confident she is in what she did here. And any issue that I brought to her, I always got a heartfelt and well-thought-out response.”
Internicola said he worked under Capt. O’Hara direction for four years. “Those of you closest to her know what I mean when I joke with that, because you’ve never met a stronger woman with a stronger will who believes in herself and her abilities. I learned a great deal and I’m grateful for the opportunity to work for her and learn from her.”
As one would expect from the popular and well-respected officer, Capt. O’Hara delivered her farewell remarks professionally and humbly.
“I just wanted to say, it’s 33 years and it’s been a great career,” said O’Hara. “It’s been my honor, and I really feel like it’s my true calling to do this job. I’m a fourth-generation police officer, and I’m so proud of the RPD and my co-workers.”
O’Hara thanked her family. “I really want to thank Frank, my sisters, and my family, because being family of a first responder is really difficult. They have given me unwavering support my entire career. I can’t thank you enough for being there, childcare when I had [son] Frankie, I will never forget it. I was a sergeant when he was born, but I always knew that I would be retiring the year you’re graduating high school. So here we are in 2025. You didn’t know it, but I knew it.”
O’Hara also said she will always “cherish memories with my co-workers.”
“We had the best of times. We had each other’s backs. This was just the most incredible time in my life, these 33 years. I want to thank each of every one of you because I could never even replace the memories we had together,” said O’Hara, while also thanking the civilians at the Revere Police Station, calling them “the backbone” of the department.
O’Hara also thanked the Revere School Department for their collaboration in the school resource officers’ effort.
O’Hara told her coworkers, “I love you, hold the line, look out for each other.”
O’Hara concluded her speech, said she had “some great plans for the future – thank you very, very much for everything.”
