A street signed honoring a Boston Police officer killed in the line of duty in 1988 was erected in Canary Square this month.
Detective Sherman Griffiths actually died in a drug raid in Dorchester, but the sign was erected May 11 in Jamaica Plain at his family’s request, because he and his wife met at the former Triple D’s bar nearby, according to Boston Police Department (BPD) historian Officer Robert Anthony.
The sign is part of the BPD’s “Hero Project,” which is erecting signs around the city honoring slain officers. The signs feature the officer’s name and date of death and the phrase, “Killed in the line of duty.” Previous signs—including three others erected elsewhere in JP last year—have been placed on or near the spot where the officer died.
That remains the intent, Anthony told the Gazette, but added that with recent signs, “The [police] commissioner wanted to let the family pick out the site.”
Griffiths’ sign is at Moraine Street and S. Huntington Avenue next to the Canary Square restaurant, which years ago was Triple D’s. The site was chosen by his wife, Deidre, because of the personal history and because it is better than the Dorchester site due to being “quiet” and a place where “more people would be able to see Sherman’s sign in a positive light,” according to Anthony.
The sign was erected on very short notice with a ceremony featuring Griffiths’ family members and BPD officials.