Police commission member Bemis dies of leukemia

Al Bemis in his familiar spot at June 5 Police Commission meeting

ROCHESTER - In his last Police Commission meeting on Oct. 2, Vice Chairman Al Bemis, fighting for his life at a Boston hospital, fought one last time for the safety of Rochester Police officers, passionately urging the commission and the Department to further explore the use of LED lighting on cruiser exteriors to avert crashes with civilian cars during nighttime stops.

It was his second-to-last request.

Bemis, a longtime state legislator and three-term police commissioner, died Wednesday after a long and courageous battle with leukemia.  

At that final meeting, which Bemis attended by speaker phone from Mass General Hospital, he also drew praise from Rochester Police Chief Michael Allen who applauded Bemis for his spearheading the push to acquire Dodge Chargers as frontline cruisers.

Bemis knew his leukemia, which had previously gone into remission, had returned recently but continued to teleconference during commission meetings right up until the very end.

His last appearance in person at a commission meeting was back on June 5.

His ties with the Police Department ran deep. 

At his final teleconference Oct. 2, he made a special point to thank Allen for steering Rochester Mayor T.J. Jean toward a phone call to Bemis in which Jean agreed to a final request, to be a speaker “when the time comes for me to go to a better land,” a raspy voiced but grateful Bemis said through the speaker phone.