The Boston City Council is hoping to get a jump start on preventing summer violence this year.
Councilors Kim Janey, Matt O’Malley and Andrea Campbell recently called for a hearing to combat summer violence.
The council held a similar hearing last June and according to Janey, the hearing did work on decreasing crime in the city. During the summer of 2018, there were 14 homicides compared to the summer of 2017, which had 22 homicides. Violence in general has been on the decline in the city. Between 2017 and 2018, the number of fatal and non-fatal shootings decreased from 260 to 202 according to the order for a hearing.
“It’s important to get working on this right away,” said Janey.
“With the summer approaching, every young person should be protected from gun violence, and violence of all kinds,” the hearing order reads.
The councilor believes violence is often a result of “unaddressed trauma” and the city needs to work on making sure there are resources for residents to deal with trauma. Also, she said there needs to be more resources for residents to prosper economically.
Janey said summer violence is often perceived as a youth issue but that is not always the case. According to her, often the victims of violence are adults.
“We have to make sure there is support for them as well,” she said.
Proud to introduce a hearing to combat the spike of violence during summer w/ my colleagues @MattOMalley & @CampbellforD4. Looking forward to partnering w/ peace activists, trauma support specialists, @bostonpolice, @HHSBOS, other agencies, & residents. #bospoli #increasetheprace pic.twitter.com/tigVMhwnJ2
— Kim Janey (@Kim_Janey) May 15, 2019
O’Malley wants the hearing to happen before summer begins.
“We all know as the temperature rises, so does the crime rate in any city,” he said. “It will be a great opportunity to check in.”
Campbell said she is looking forward to the hearing.
Representatives from the Boston Police Department, Office of Public Safety, Boston Public Health Commission, the Boston Housing Authority, the Neighborhood Watch Unit, the Department of Youth Engagement and Employment, and community members will be invited to testify at the hearing.
Net of story: We want do something, but don’t what. Typical bureaucratic nonsense with more money in the budget, so burn it.
I don’t get it…Is summer violence somehow worse or more prevalent that spring, fall or winter violence and therefore more worthy of attention?
It is….more people out on the street because of the nice weather. School is not in session. Kids have more time on their hands. I think most law enforcement will tell you it’s a real thing.
Yes, more prevalent. Not sure of the reasons why, I don’t think the councilors know either. Hence, the hearing. But as we see here, kids with nothing to do gathering, drinking and maybe messing with drugs leads to altercations which get out of hand. Despite the low rate of unemployment, there are too many idle kids. The council seems to believe the issue is “unaddressed trauma”, whatever that is. And their comments vacillate between youthful victims to adult victims (what is the age of adulthood now). Which leaves me to believe that they are blind to what we see. But we witness crowds of kids from who knows where just waiting for a homicide. I don’t expect anything different this summer.
Rachel Rollins, District Attorney, wants to eliminate people getting arrested for Trepassing, Vandalism, Shoplifting, etc.
and this invites Violence. If the police do not arrest people for any of the above mention, other people will take the
law into their hands & we might be living back in the Wild West Days. Can you imagine someone vandalizing your Home, Car or property & the perpetrators not being held responsible for their actions? Insanity at its Best.
Can you imagine if any of these acts were done to the Mayor or Governor what would happen? We can not let
anyone get away with such crimes Ever.
In Massacusetts that is a political career booster, if she prosecutes no cases, she won’t have losses on her record. Look what it did for John Kerry. Never prosecuted a single case during his term as asst. DA. This way they can’t say you are a lousy lawyer. You just never get in court. On the the hand, remember Marsha Clarke? Dropped the ball for OJ and she was done.