Boston in need of another ‘miracle’

Serghino René
and Howard Manly

The good news on the crime-fighting front is that an arrest was made in the brutal murder of Dominique Samuels, the former Milton high cheerleader who police say was choked to death and then set ablaze, her unrecognizable body later found in Franklin Park.

Rodrick J. Taylor, a convicted petty thief, pled not guilty to murder charges in a Roxbury courtroom on Monday. While Taylor’s attorney claims the case against his client is largely circumstantial, prosecutors argued that Taylor became angry when Samuels rejected his sexually overtures, strangled her with his bare hands, and then dragged her body to her third-floor room at a Roxbury rooming house where she had been living for the last four months. Prosecutors then said that Taylor returned to the room a few days later and dragged her body to Franklin Park.

The bad news is that scores of other murder cases and shootings have not produced a single arrest, and while it’s unclear what impact the city’s police commissioner has on the streets, it is clear that the city’s police department is proving incapable of stemming the rash of violence plaguing Boston since the end of last year.

Although Boston’s murder rate remains lower than most American cities, there is room and reason for discomfort among residents. In 2005, 75 murders were recorded. As of now, according to the Christian Science Monitor, we are ahead of last years pace for murders by two.

Complicating the task for the city police is the sudden resignation of Police Commissioner Kathleen O’Toole. She announced her decision to become the chief inspector for Ireland’s national police after media reports forced her hand. Mayor Thomas Menino couldn’t have been happy, especially considering all of the peace and anti-violence summits he has attended in the past several weeks.

So much for Menino’s anti-snitching campaign. He needs a miracle.

Fortunately, the city already had one, back in the early nineties, when the crack-fueled gang murders produced the city’s highest murder statistics.

James Levin, director of the Brudnick Center on Violence at Northeaster University, says there are parallels between now and back then. Between 1986 and 1992, Levin says, there was a lot of talk about how to solve the violence problem, but nothing was being done to actually solve it.

The problem became more acute in 1992 when gang members disrupted a funeral service at Morning Star Baptist Church. The incident resulted in a stabbing and a shooting. What emerged from that horror was the “Boston Miracle”: a partnership among city government, the Boston Police Department, other law enforcement agencies and the proactive efforts of community-based groups and residents, particularly the Boston branch of the Nation of Islam.

“The ‘miracle’ was a two-pronged community effort,” says Levin. “There was a partnership with police and residents to identify the youngsters that were beyond reach of the police department and there was outreach from clergy, business people who donated summer jobs, lifeguards and college students for the benefit of the young.”

Levin said those days should be instructive for now.

“In the late 1980s we were experiencing a bad economy,” says Levin. “There were government cutbacks in programs, stock market decline and, as a result, tension rose in the community. Today we are experiencing an economic down surge again and the community is reacting to it. There are more young people in the streets and a large number of drug dealers who were imprisoned during the war on drugs in the ’80s are without jobs or skills. Many have gone back to gangs, promising our young people the things they know are beyond their grasp.”

Levin says that right now, Boston is aware of what’s going on and capable of recognizing it at its onset. But at the same time, he says, we are just catching up.

“There are more police in the street, but not enough,” says Levin. “Community policing works. Officers need to get out of their patrol cars and into the streets. There are programs to keep kids off the street, but not enough. We haven’t responded correctly to the problem and now we are playing catch up.”

The sudden increase in violence was very subtle and took many by surprise. The teen population has grown and the offenders who were doing time during the late ’80s and early ’90s are getting out of jail.

“People didn’t know gangs were back after the ‘miracle,’ says Levin. “Their leadership was subtle and they recruited kids by providing benefits that kids couldn’t obtain any other way.”

Community leaders, however, continue to focus on the police and its inability to cultivate respect, trust and, most importantly, information from potential witnesses.

“If we want to see a decrease in violence,” says NAACP President Leonard Alkins, “there [are] going to have to be some changes within the police department and their relationship with the community. There is a gap in communication.”

“People in the community are threatened by those who are supposed to be watch dogs,” says Alkins. “The people in charge don’t understand [the] cultures, customs or the language. Today’s police officers need to be alert, proactive, respectful, act as a social service worker and have common sense.”

And that attitude must start from the top. To her credit, Commissioner O’Toole was very visible throughout the city, attending meetings and listening to everything from citizens’ complaints to calls from minority police officers to hire more minorities. But for whatever reason, her efforts didn’t translate to a reduction in a crime. It remains an open question as to whether Mayor Menino plans to hire another minority to replace the city’s first female police commissioner.

“This is not just about hiring a minority commissioner,” said Bob Coard, executive director of ABCD. “We need a competent and capable commissioner who is able to appeal to everyone. He or she needs to understand the culture and the linguistics of the people who are killing each other.”

Alkins agreed. “Boston is changing rapidly,” he said. “The city must be willing to understand those changes, work within those changes and make the city better.”

Levin says there needs to be a proactive grassroots effort from both the new commissioner and the entire community if the goal is to generate positive change. He says the next commissioner has to gain the confidence and trust of the residents.

“We can’t assume that every neighborhood in the city is on the same page,” says Levin. “The new commissioner will not gain the cooperation of the community by focusing on improving law and order. At the same time, he or she will not remain respected within the police force if the focus is just on creating programs. They need to provide both.”