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Sean Philip Cotter: Boston officials eye gangs, outreach as they prepare for summer violence

Boston Herald - 5/28/2021

May 28—Boston officials said they're preparing to combat summer street violence through a focus on gang activity, youth outreach and arrests on top violent offenders.

"We have arrest warrants for 40 to 50 people that we believe have been driving the crime," District Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a press conference alongside Acting Mayor Kim Janey and Boston Police Acting Commissioner Greg Long on Thursday. "The Boston Police now are going to be going out and finding all of those individuals — they know very well who they are, so we expect to have several arraignments coming up in the near future."

There was little other information available about this sweep.

Rollins, Janey and Long spoke at Boston Police Department headquarters in what's something of an annual tradition: providing an update on the anti-violence efforts in the city before summer's warmth is accompanied by the streets getting hotter, too.

Janey outlined a general plan to keep crime down, including targeting enforcement to gang hot spots and doing a wide range of outreach, jobs training and other services toward the young men who generally make up the bulk of people committing street violence. She said the youth-outreach efforts include job training and placement, opening up youth centers and continuing to have neighborhood workers engaging with at-risk young people and their families.

"We also know that COVID has compounded trauma — that is in part why we saw an increase in violence last summer, and why we're being very intentional as we approach this summer," Janey said.

Janey also took aim at fireworks scofflaws, citing the issue that abounded last year in the city.

"Fireworks are dangerous, illegal explosives," Janey said, urging people who hear fireworks going off to call 311.

Long rattled off several stats about how the city continues to see drops in crime; he pointed to a 21% drop in what's called Part 1 crime — a broad category of major offenses include murders, sexual assaults, burglaries and theft — and a 19% dip in specifically violent crime. He said the department continues to get more illegal guns off the streets, with arrests up 30%.

Long also noted that the expanded class of 94 new recruits will graduate in June, slightly easing the force's manpower strain.

Long acknowledged that the "majority of the violence you'll see is gang-related violence." He said anti-gang activity happens all year round, but during the summer, "there is a heightened concern about that — rivals, there's more opportunities to run into each other."

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