HOPING COOLER HEADS PREVAIL
Hub leaders strategize to keep streets safe as weather warms
Police Commissioner William Gross said Monday that although violence is down in recent years he still anticipates an uptick this summer and the city is taking a proactive approach.
“Every year we are put to the task to come up with summer strategies, initiatives to ensure we have the safest summer possible,” Gross said.
“So why be reactionary? We are saying, ‘Be proactive.’ We know the history so we are willing to step up and go forward with … everyone to get ahead of the problems. We’re anticipating there may be problems, but we want solutions in place to address them,” he said.
Gross made the comments after a 90-minute meeting behind closed doors with Mayor Martin Walsh, Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins, Councilors At-Large Althea Garrison and Annissa Essaibi-George, City Council President Andrea Campbell, members of the Boston Police Department and several members of the clergy.
Overall, the city has seen a decrease in crime over the past several years, Walsh said, but officials recently noted that the average age of victims is starting to rise.
Walsh said that means the city will expand its focus on youth programming to include resources for older populations. In 2013, the average age of a victim of violence was 25 — in 2018 that age had risen to 30.
Strategies this summer will focus on youth programming and employment, including National Night Out, Teen Police Academy and Operation Exit.
“We’re happy to be involved, and we want the community to know we are working on this,” said Rollins. “It’s our job to solve crime, not yours, but we do need your help in this process, so I’m excited to continue to collaborate with the mayor and commissioner and other members of the community.”
The city is also working with businesses to continue the effort to make Boston’s nightlife safer. Gross said the city has formed a committee of police officers, City Hall staff and the business community tasked with developing a guidebook for situations ranging from unruly patrons to possible kidnappings.
“We want to send a clearcut message to those predators, to the hunters: Not on our watch,” Gross said.
“You have the city of Boston, business owners, BPD and the patrons working together to make sure that we will have the safest environment we can for folks who want to champion the nightlife.”