Brookline Police Deputy Superintendent Russell O'Neill, one of Chief Jennifer Paster's senior commanders, has been selected to lead the Westwood Police Department after a 2-1 vote by the Westwood Select Board on Monday, July 20.

O'Neill, 44, has spent 20 years with the Brookline Police Department. He currently heads BPD's Community Service Division and previously led its Patrol Division. He is one of the top-ranking officers in a department with 134 sworn officers and 50 civilian employees.

The appointment is pending contract negotiations. No start date has been announced.

The two board members who voted for O'Neill cited his leadership of a Brookline staff "several times the size of Westwood Police Department, his military service and leadership, and his years of experience," according to the Westwood Minute. The third member backed Michael DiLalla, Westwood's acting chief and administrative lieutenant, who was one of three finalists interviewed by the board on Friday, July 17. The third finalist was Nick Jamali, an operations lieutenant with the Duxbury Police Department.

Westwood's department has 33 sworn officers and a $5.7 million annual budget, serving a community of about 16,000 residents.

"I'm absolutely thrilled for Russ, his family, and the Town of Westwood," Paster wrote in an email to Brookline.News on Wednesday, July 22. "Being selected for this opportunity is a tremendous honor, and I know he would serve the community with the same professionalism, integrity, and dedication that have defined his career."

Paster said she watched O'Neill grow into an outstanding leader who earned the respect of colleagues, the community, and regional law enforcement partners.

O'Neill's career includes responding to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the subsequent manhunt in Cambridge and Watertown as a member of BPD's Special Response Team. He is also a member of the Army National Guard with two deployments to Iraq. He enlisted in November 2000 and was commissioned as an Army Engineer Officer in the Massachusetts Army National Guard after college.

In a November 2025 Town of Brookline newsletter feature honoring Veterans Day, O'Neill described his dual career: "The Army focuses on leadership more than any other organization I've heard of. If you are not studying leadership, reading, practicing, etc., then you will be out," he said. "I think what I have learned in the Army has helped me lead here at BPD but what I have learned at BPD has also helped my career in the Army."

As of November 2025, O'Neill served as Commander of the 101st Engineer Battalion, which he described as the nation's oldest, overseeing 656 soldiers across five companies with detachments in Methuen, Florence, Bridgewater, Bourne, and Cape Cod.

The Westwood chief position carries a base salary range of $145,136 to $185,273, according to the May 2026 job posting. The search was conducted with the assistance of John Parow Consulting & Associates, and candidates underwent an assessment center that included a tactical scenario involving a hypothetical ICE enforcement event in Westwood.

Contract negotiations between O'Neill and the Town of Westwood are the next step. Brookline Police have not announced how the department will fill his role.