Bro. Frederick McLean

Beta Alpha Chapter charter member, Bro. Detective McLean of the Special Service Squad was the first African American to receive the Boston Police Department's Medal of Honor. On April 7, 1952, Detective McLean was on a day off when he heard that a robbery was being planned by two men he knew to be armed and dangerous. Driving through Roxbury in his own vehicle, Detective McLean observed one man acting as a lookout in front of a store on Tremont Street, with a second man inside holding the owner at gunpoint.  Detective McLean arrested the lookout and used him as a shield as he entered the store to arrest the robber, who had escaped from the state hospital for the criminally insane.

Bro. Detective McLean not only protected the community from crime, but he also dedicated himself to the improvement of relations between police officers and the community, recruitment of African American and Hispanic personnel to serve as law enforcement officers, and assistance in establishing a nationwide communication network to improve police performance through education and the sharing of experiences. In 1968, Bro. Detective McLean organized around these objectives by co-founding the Massachusetts Association of Afro-American Police (MAAAP), the predecessor of the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers (MAMLEO) which still exists today.

Brother Detective McLean was initiated into Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., as a Charter Member of Beta Alpha Chapter in 1935.