Police

Chief Wiggum of The Simpsons

From "Boston Strong" to "Boston Wronged". The Boston Police were confronted by a large community meeting in South Boston last evening. One radio correspondent estimated the crowd as 75% female. 

Amy Lord, a 24-year-old computer professional, was abducted and murdered in Boston last week. The primary person of interest (suspect) is a man with an extensive record of violence and escaping prosecution. Boston detectives neglected to investigate and make a case against this man last Fall after he attacked a woman in South Boston. The assigned detective, Jerome Hall-Brewster, has now been "demoted", but he still has a police job. 

The swooning applause of the police state created here in April by the Boston Police Department and State Police after the Marathon bombing has now faded. We return to the reality of poor policing in neighborhoods overrun by addicts and street people. Slow response to 911 calls is matter of course here in neighborhoods unladen by the deep pockets of Beacon Hill, Back Bay, North End and South End. Response times in those neighborhoods are surely faster. The absence of vagrants and ruffians speaks to more active police intervention.

Mayor Menino's media machine has been very effective at elevating his 20-year reign as chief executive of this city to legendary status. Those of us who have lived in this city for most of our lives know better. The deterioration of the Boston Police Department has been obvious and ongoing for decades. The police and firefighter unions, like the transit union, must share the responsibility for this decline in policing the greater area of residential streets of the city. 

Police PR reps spout the word "community policing" at civic association meetings. However, there is no community policing in my Boston neighborhood. The only police presence in my neighborhood consists of officers doing private duty at construction sites and officers hanging around in a coffee shop owned by a city councilor. It has replaced the local Dunkin Donuts as a police hangout. The local shopping center has its own small police station and more policing than my adjacent neighborhood, which has frequent break-ins and a host of roaming junkies during daytime hours.

While I really like my neighborhood for what it can offer, I feel the city government does not. My neighbors have a vibrant civic association. Police officers, doing public relations, attend the 10 monthly meetings and report on crime. My neighbors inevitably bring up 911 calls that were not answered. We get shrugs in response and no notable improvement in service. I am present on the streets of my neighborhood daily. I walk to do errands. I take an afternoon walk every day, more or less. I can testify to the absence of any police presence on the streets of my neighborhood. No cruisers. No police on foot or bicycle. 

Policing and firefighting budgets are large parts of the municipal budget. After 911, police forces have been showered with Federal Homeland Security funding as well. I see flashy new police motorcycles and cruisers. Last weekend I saw two State Troopers riding horses along a deserted section of beach in South Boston on their way to lunch. They looked like aristocratic lovers in a period film. Just enjoying the ride. On my tax dollars.