'We're still outraged,' Community leaders discuss solutions to end violence in Boston
By Courtney Cole, WBZ-TV
BOSTON - Local leaders and members of the clergy came together under the roof of Greater Love Tabernacle Church in Dorchester Tuesday to talk solutions.
It comes in response to the recent violence over the last few weeks in Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Police Commissioner Michael Cox, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden and Bishop William Dickerson, were all participants of the discussion.
The conversation itself was not open to the media, but after the discussion concluded, leadership shared the next steps when it comes to making communities safer.
In October alone, there's been at least one shooting every week in Boston.
"We're still outraged, we're outraged at the fact that there's an uptick in violence," said Bishop William Dickerson, the Senior Pastor of Greater Love Tabernacle. He was the first to address the room.
It's an alarming trend, concentrated in three Boston communities: Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan. But Bishop Dickerson said this isn't the time to politicize or ignore the situation.
"It's painful, we know some of the families that are involved who have to deal with the painful reality of their loved one lost. We're not here pointing fingers. We're here to try to connect, strategize," Bishop Dickerson continued. "My heart is warmed at the fact that so many people from different sectors of our community that are concerned about the uptick in violence and determined to make a difference."
Hours were spent inside of Greater Love Tabernacle to lay out concerns and discuss how to curtail the violence.
Mayor Wu said they talked about what people are experiencing right now in the neighborhoods being impacted by violence, what the needs are and what areas of action are already taking place.
"There was a lot of conversation around trauma response and the need to ensure that we are touching every single person, every student who might be, at all, impacted by recent events," said Mayor Wu.
She said mental health, violence prevention and intervention, and Boston Public Schools' play an important role in this plan as well.
Boston Public Schools Superintendent Mary Skipper said she felt appreciative of the opportunity to come together on Tuesday.
"We host 49,000 students every day in Boston Public Schools, and they're impacted. Whether that violence happens in a school, happens on their way to school or on the front steps of their school or at their home. And so, it's pivotal that we all come together, and this space gave us the opportunity to do that," said Superintendent Skipper.
"I am encouraged by the partnerships that we strengthened today and eager to move with urgency with all of our community partners in taking on the work ahead," said Mayor Wu.
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said there was a lot of frank discussion and transparency during the meeting.
"We have an opportunity. A real opportunity before us, to do many things that we've done well here in Boston for so long," which Hayden says puts Boston in a relatively good space when it comes to violent crime, despite the recent surge.
"We have done intervention and prevention in this city, well. We've been heralded for it. We've done returning citizens and programs for them very well. We've been recognized and heralded for that. We've done alternatives to prosecution well and recognized for that. Community policing and prosecution, well and been recognized for that," said Hayden.
But he continued by saying he's not sure that they've done all of these things well all well, at the exact same time.
"I think we have a time, such as this right now, to seize a part of where we are, to do all of those things together well. And with that comprehensive approach I think that we will be able to make the difference," said Hayden.
Commissioner Michael Cox began by sending his condolences to the victims and their families.
"Today's meeting was tremendous in the sense that -- you hear me talk about community policing a lot and building trust. Well, the city is coming together as we should, as we have in the past, to deal with crime and fear crime," said Cox.
He said today's meeting was a commitment from a lot of different people to make sure we're doing all we can to keep people safe.
"The police always have a role; we have a lane --so to speak. And we're always going to what we can to proactively do all that we can to prevent things through visibility. But the fact is, we need support and help, because these issues are far bigger than traditional law enforcement," Commissioner Cox said.
He pointed out that Boston has had historic, positive rates involving crime.
"And we're continuing in that fashion, in some way, shape or form. But the negative trends that we are seeing - this more real than perceived - is the violence that we're seeing now - the kids are younger. There's a lot more youth involved in the level of crimes that we're seeing," said Commissioner Cox.
Tuesday's meeting was presented as a foundational step, in a series of more meetings to come.
Before the press conference concluded, Cole asked Mayor Wu what she would say to people in the community who are looking for help right now.
She responded by saying, in part, "We did make sure that there's information among various groups that are on the ground, every single day - 24 hours a day. There are hotlines that are available to report information you may have, there's availability and resource if there's a particular event community members believe will be helpful to have more visibility and presence of Boston Police, to reach out. So, we're trying to spread that word."
