And this afternoon, the commissioner of police also spoke about William Dawson's contribution and legacy. He said the man carried the invincible aura of a peacemaker:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"He has that aura that just basically make everyone around him feels good about themselves and that's what I love about him. I personally have had many discussions with him. I have asked him to do many interventions whenever something would occur in the city, any gang incident, I would call him and say, bwai William this had occurred, please go in and do X, Y, Z and William would never say ComPol, I can't, I busy or nothing. He is always willing to go. I don't see us finding someone to replace William or even come close to the willingness that William had and that will command the respect of the rivalling groups, because you know that you can't do intervention with people if they dont respect you and thats a very important part of the work of an interventionist garnering the respect of those persons that he or she would work with and so it's a huge loss and we will now have to look to see what we can do to try and find somebody that will come as close as possible to William. We're back to the drawing board and see what we can do to full that void that has been left with William's passing."
Jules Vasquez
"What he did required a high level of emotion intelligence, adaptability and fearlessness, because you have to go from one rival area into the other rival area and not have them think you are a snitch or that you are a snake and so you are mediating between warring factions."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"It didn't matter to him which area he had to go into. He was always willing and like you said he did this without even thinking about his own safety or how they will look at him. He moved around like myself without a weapon and I'm sure that if you are to interview the young men from the different hoods, they will tell you that William contributed tremendously to where they are currently and to some extent it is William's work that have many of them alive. So we are forever going to be grateful for William."
