William Mateer

Metropolitan Police Department — Boston, MA

Accident

End of Watch January 10, 1909

The Vigil Panel 23 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 11

Incident

Patrolman William Mateer drowned while attempting to rescue a fisherman who had fallen through the ice on Ponkapoag Pond in Canton. The fisherman also drowned in the incident.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-MA-1D82A19B
Stewardship: Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
Added to badge.nw: April 2, 2026
Last updated: July 23, 2026

Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.

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Tributes

I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Patrolman Mateer served with the Metropolitan Police Department.
Thank you for your service to the Boston community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Patrolman Mateer.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department Metropolitan Police Department

Location Boston, MA

Platform Identity mpd.suffolk.ma.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch January 10, 1909

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Accident

Patrolman William Mateer is one of 10,088 officers lost to accidents in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 31% of all 32,508 officers honored here.

In MA, 158 of 469 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 33.7% of this state's fallen. That is 2.7 percentage points above the national rate of 31%.

At Metropolitan Police Department, 7 of 12 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 58.3% of this agency's fallen.

Metropolitan Police Department

of 12 officers

58.3% Accident

MA — Statewide

158

of 469 officers

33.7% Accident

Nationwide

10,088

of 32,508 officers

31% Accident