PAX Centurion - Fall 2017

Page 24 • PAX CENTURION • Fall 2017 617-989-BPPA (2772) P ERHAPS IT IS MYADVANCINGAGE or the jaded cynicism with which 38 years on this job has infected me, but every time I hear that the public is, once again, pointing the fickle finger of blame at the police for “lack of enforcement” over a crime issue, I have an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. I remember hearing the same calls for “beefed-up” patrols, and “tougher enforcement” and “zero tolerance” back in the 80’s, and the 90’s and 2000_____ (fill in the blank). As it inevitably ended up, the “beefed-up” patrols were full of bovine excrement ( because the “beef” only existed by virtue of forced, mandatory, overtime shifts of already-exhausted officers), and the only “zero tolerance” ended up being for the cops who actually engaged in “tougher enforcement”. Of course, the most recent example is the spate of shootings and stabbings on the Boston Common, which has prompted numerous “man in the street” interviews by media buffoons and deeply insightful articles by our local alleged journalists. “The police don’t do nothing” says one drooling moron who has obviously spent many nights of blissful inebriation upon the Common’s benches himself. (Was he the first passerby who passed you by, Mr. Insightful TV reporter?) And Mrs. Dolly Dimples from Beacon Hill complains about finding drug needles everywhere. (Jessica Heslam, Boston Herald , 9/14/17, “ Crime an all too Common Problem ”) “The scent of weed wafted across the lawn all day as children were pushed in strollers… I see people shooting up. I saw someone smoking crack the other day. There was a syringe stuck in the ground…drifters and vagrants camped out with suitcases and a big group congregated by… the fountain…” ( Boston Herald , “Neighbors seek tougher enforcement in city gem” 9/14/17, DanAtkins/O’Ryan Johnson) “Neighbors and caretakers of Boston Common are sounding the alarm about constant crime …saying the city needs to “crack down” on drug offenses and other violations…”. “ Friends of the Public Garden Director Elizabeth Vizza said. …the Common is “consistently plagued with a host of quality of life crimes…”. “The violence is part of an overall atmosphere of lawlessness that pervades the Common,” said Rishi Shukla … “We’re letting small things go like smoking. Smoking marijuana on the Common is generally not enforced,” Shukla, said, adding that “homelessness, opioid drug use and fights are also problems.” Emerson College President Lee Pelton …said Emerson students…were really shaken, still feeling afraid” after the shooting.” (Ahmm, not for nothing, but…would those “shaken and afraid” Emerson students be the same ones who consistently follow police officers and shove cellphone cameras in their faces when they attempt to make an arrest, President Pelton?) The FACTS (and I know how inconvenient FACTS are) Mr. Shukla, Ms. Vizza, President Pelton, et al, are that, even more Déjà vu all over again? “Public wants tougher enforcement on Boston Common…” Of what and against whom exactly…? By James W. Carnell, Pax Editor than back in the 80’s and 90’s , the police are, in practical effect, prevented and prohibited from effective law enforcement by the liberal permissiveness that much of the general public supported and now complains about! “Drifters and vagrants camped out with suitcases,” complains John Q. Public? Vagrancy statutes and ordinances were thrown out by the courts a long time ago. “Groups congregating…?”, Ditto, laws against “Sauntering and Loitering” were ruled unconstitutional back in the 80’s. “Drug needles stuck in the ground”? Not too many years ago, there existed the crime of “PN&S” – (illegal possession of needles and syringes) which the police could use to lock up addicts and – eventually, hopefully – have them committed to drug rehab by the courts. Groups like theAIDS brigade, under the guise of preventing communicable diseases, passed out free needles and syringes and had the statute decriminalized (sort of like passing out free red solo cups at a college fraternity, pointing students to the keg but telling them not to drink). Thanks, AIDS brigade! With fentanyl and carfentanyl and hot-dose heroin, most drug addicts have no fear about contracting long-term communicable diseases; because they simply won’t live long enough! And “the wafting smell of marijuana smoke as children pass by …?” YOU PEOPLE LEGALIZED IT! “Enforcement” is limited to a B.S. “civil citation” to be issued to people “smoking illegally” on the Common, and since NOBODY is required to carry ID with them (another issue for another day), “Mickey Mouse” and “Donald Duck” have been (apparently?) frequent, repeat violators on the Common. Would you care to give us a fake address to go along with the fake name, Sir? The point is, John Q. Public, you have effectively rendered your police unarmed when it comes to “quality of life” laws with which to enforce. And if we do try to enforce laws or question people about their activities, you surround our officers with cellphone cameras as we struggle on the ground with suspects for your own personal “you-tube” video exclusive. Would you have us remove the homeless and vagrants? Tried that in the 90’s, under then-Deputy Supt. Robert Hayden, responding to complaints of homeless “tent-cities” being established on the Common. Officer Paul Sullivan and other officers were dispatched to perform said duties, and were quickly attacked by local “homeless advocates” and branded in the media as “Robo-Cops.” (Sullivan was subsequently transferred to a far-away station and left demoralized and abandoned by the BPD, all for “enforcing the law.”) Most officers quickly learned that “enforcing the law” was not conducive to career advancement. Against exactly whom should we target enforcement, John Q. Public? Could you kindly identify for us – with some specificity for our own protection- who should be considered “suspicious” and therefore the focus of our attention? Vagrants? Homeless? Illegal Aliens? Loiterers? Gang members? “ N’er-do-wells? ”, as one Beacon Hill Brahmin described them. (What, exactly, Chauncey, does a “ N’er-do-well ” look like?) Such subjective determinations of character, social status and