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	Church's Top Cop Learned Respect for Law from Dad Mark Dunderdale's Father Was a State Trooper Assigned to DA's Office By Maureen Boyle Enterprise February 9, 2010 http://www.enterprisenews.com/news/x1673538213/Church-s-top-cop-learned-respect-for-law-from-dad BRAINTREE — Mark Dunderdale knows the law well — and the importance of good investigations. He grew up with it. His father, G. William Dunderdale, was a state trooper assigned to the Plymouth County district attorney's office for 15 years before retiring. "I had a very clear understanding of how important the work was," Mark Dunderdale said. "It was part of our daily lives and our family friends. "Respect for the law was instilled upon me by both of my parents." Dunderdale's brother and two cousins eventually became police officers, but he took a different path. And that path has now led him to a new responsibility – investigating allegations of wrongdoing or impropriety by clergy or other diocesan workers as the first director of the Office of Professional Standards and Oversight for the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. He said he will view the new job – and the investigations he will oversee – with a judicially balanced eye, protecting rights of both the accused and the accuser. What brought this 42-year-old father of two to take on the challenge of assuring that clergy and other church workers are held to the highest standards? Dunderdale, a Catholic, first went to Marquette University in Milwaukee where he was enrolled in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps, or ROTC, graduating in 1989 with a degree in civil engineering. "When I was looking at schools, I was also looking at ways to pay for it. I became interested in the ROTC program and to participate in ROTC, you had to major in a hard science or engineering." After graduation, Dunderdale served in the U.S. Navy from 1989 to 1992. He was part of the 1990 "Desert Shield" mission to prevent Iraq from invading Saudi Arabia and then served in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. He left the Navy as a lieutenant and went on to work full-time as director of public safety at Simmons College in Boston. At night, he was a full-time law student at Suffolk University, where he graduated cum laude in 2000. At Suffolk, he was also editor of the Suffolk Journal of Trial and Appellate Advocacy. Dunderdale said the law — and law enforcement — was always an interest but he knew becoming a police officer wasn't the right fit for him. He ultimately blended the two interests when he became a prosecutor in the Plymouth County district attorney's office in 2000, eventually serving as a prosecutor in the family protection unit and as chief of the computer crimes unit. Dunderdale handled the prosecution of a number of men caught in a sting when a female sheriff's deputy went online pretending to be a 13-year-old girl. One of those men was a Plymouth selectman. Knowledge of computer crime and the problems the Internet can pose in the workplace will also be helpful in his new job, said Dunderdale, who is married with two children. "The Internet is such a large part of everybody's lives. My experience should be beneficial should cases where computer and the Internet have a role. You need to have a solid enough experience to know what avenues to take an investigation." Dunderdale, who lives on the South Shore with his wife and family, guards his private life as carefully as he guards the law. He declined to share details about his family, noting he just recently left a prosecutor's office where he handled criminal trials. In his new position, Dunderdale said he will draw on his experiences in the district attorney's office where he tried cases and dealt with victims. When investigating past sexual assault allegations, Dunderdale said he will examine the cases carefully, looking for facts as witnesses are interviewed. Because of his prosecutorial background, he will be able to provide guidance how to conduct sexual assault investigations involving old allegations, he said. "When you are looking at allegations dating from many, many years ago, finding witnesses, interviewing witnesses, taking into consideration everyone's rights as part of a true, fair and balanced investigation is important," he said. Dunderdale's former boss, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz, said Dunderdale knows the law and people well – two things that will serve him well in the new job. "He is very detailed. He is a very honest person and a very straightforward person," Cruz said. "It was a real loss to us when he moved onto the archdiocese. Our loss is definitely their gain." Dunderdale is also a person who knows how to talk with people, putting them at ease while handling tough cases, Cruz said. "He understands the process," Cruz said. "He also has a great way with people."
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