Ending the violence

The most recent spate of violence in a number of Boston neighborhoods over the past couple of weeks (“Walsh asks victims to help cops ID shooters,” Boston Herald, July 7) hopefully won’t lead to yet another deadly summer in the city. I do praise Mayor Marty Walsh for saying what has to be said about the community and victims of violence coming forward to protect themselves and keep their neighborhoods safe for all who live there.

As a retired special state police officer of 28 years for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, I see these endless looking acts of violence as also a public health crisis.

It is pretty dumb to say that our mayor is starting to blame the victims of violence simply because he is looking for help from within the communities engulfed in violence. His comments are not insensitive but rather much needed. I have always been a strong supporter of community policing but this concept needs law enforcement and the community working together to keep our neighborhoods safe.

I also agree with Joyce Ferriabough Bolling’s comments (“Community, police must be a team”). Perhaps her idea to create neighborhood summits where people feel free and safe to offer ideas that could empower neighborhoods to take back their own streets would be a good start. Both the police and community need to put aside any negative stereotypes about each other if that kind of thinking exists. Both sides need to trust each other and work together in harmony or the violence might never stop. Doing nothing but watching a terrible situation continue on year after year is not an answer. Doing something to move the status quo is.

The real eyes and ears of a community belong to those who call these communities their home. We need to think not just of today but tomorrow. The children of today are looking for some adult leadership, which can only begin when the police and community work together as one.

— Sal Giarratani, East Boston