The events of September 11, 2001 shattered a general sense of security in Boston and in the United States — changing the way city and town administrators as well as average citizens define public safety. 

OVERVIEW

The threat of terrorism is adding costs to public safety systems in fragile economic times. In Boston, expenditures for “homeland security” compete with resources needed for local public safety priorities, such as support for the large cohort of young people in the city’s neighborhoods and for programs that ease the re-entry of offenders coming out of prisons into communities with few job openings and rising housing costs.

New security mandates at Logan Airport and the Port of Boston, requests for assistance from the owners of downtown office buildings, and heightened security and emergency preparedness everywhere in the city are putting new demands on the budgets and personnel of the Boston Police and Fire Departments, as well as on Boston’s Public Health Commission. In addition to their already demanding jobs — and in an economy failing to produce the tax revenues necessary to sustain former levels of service — these personnel now face a public safety environment characterized by strained budgets, fear and uncertainty. 

In many cities in the nation, crime rates are increasing after almost a decade of consistent annual crime reductions. Boston, too, began to see spikes in some categories of violent crime in the first half of 2002, with an 80% spike in gun crime.  Compared to 2000 and 2001, for example, there were increased reports of young people using firearms to settle disputes. Following a series of highly publicized and tragic gun-related homicides in early 2002, some in the media questioned the effectiveness of “The Boston Strategy” of the 1990s — a broad set of community- and faith-based partnerships and criminal justice system alliances informed by intensive data analysis. Critics called instead for aggressive enforcement strategies such as the “zero tolerance” approaches modeled on New York City’s anti-crime program.  But Boston had been successful in dealing with youth violence and drastically reducing rates of violence in the 1990s by bringing those most affected by violence into partnership with the police and the broader community. In 2002, the Boston Police Department (BPD) responded not by pulling back from the partnership-based strategy but by reaching out to additional partners — deepening and strengthening the partnership strategy. The BPD also increased its use of data to inform and direct policy, beginning an intensive analysis of calls-for-service and crime data in an effort to better understand the dimensions of the new crime patterns. By engaging its community partners as well as new stakeholders, and examining data to analyze the growing violence on the streets, the BPD contributed to a significant decrease in gun-related crimes in the second half of 2002. And the long-term crime trend in Boston continues its downward slide.

Some new patterns of crime and violence do bear watching, however — such as the involvement of more young women, the sharing of weapons, and ex-offenders who are returning to their communities in a contracting economy that offers few jobs.

The climate of tight resources in a weak economy is challenging everyone — from committed public safety personnel, to families with children at risk of becoming victims or perpetrators of violence, to ex-offenders seeking a job, to cash-strapped non-profit organizations and faith-based institutions that have created proven models of support and prevention.

WHAT HAS CHANGED SINCE 2000?

Boston’s violent crime rate dropped about 5% between 2001 and 2002, hitting a 31-year low at the end of 2002. According to experts, crime rates are cyclical with periodic spikes, requiring particular vigilance to ensure that any increases are minimal and short lived. Boston mobilized its proven faith-based and other community-based partnerships and public sector alliances to tackle the surge in crime in 2002, bringing down rates substantially by the end of the year. Overall, crime rates — including rapes, larcenies, and car thefts — were down 3% in 2002, with 60 homicides in 2002 compared to 68 in 2001 and 39 in 2000 (against the historic backdrop of 152 in 1990).

New leaders were installed in key public safety positions: Andrea Cabral, the first woman and first African American Sheriff of Suffolk County; Joseph Carter, the new the MBTA  Police Chief ; and  Daniel Conley, elected as the new Suffolk County District Attorney.

A large number of young adults returned to Boston neighborhoods after spending time in prison.  By some estimates, more than 200 inmates are being released from the Suffolk County House of Corrections each month. Most return to one of only three Boston neighborhoods with little supervision, few job prospects and greatly reduced access to transitional housing. The BPD, in partnership with community and faith-based groups, has begun a Re-Entry Initiative to provide services and increased surveillance as individuals leave prison. This builds on the community partnership model where various agencies of criminal justice — probation, parole, and corrections — ally with street workers, community-based agencies and long-time partners such as the Ten Point Coalition, and sends a consistent message to ex-offenders that a return to violence will not be tolerated. 

Due to budget cuts, Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Police Commissioner Paul Evans were forced to cancel a police academy class for 60 new recruits. Commissioner Evans also reassigned a number of officers from desk jobs to the streets. Many police officers are expected to retire within the next several years.

Violence on the MBTA increased, as well as complaints of racial profiling. The MBTA’s  plainclothes unit was charged many of the violations of civil rights, and was dismantled At the same time, a well known and experienced MBTA police chief of color was appointed, leading to hopes for both greater safety and greater sensitivity and fairness. However, with several high-profile and tragic incidents of violence, the public in general and young people in particular, continued to feel wary. The MBTA tapped the red-jacketed City Year corps members as extra eyes and ears, training them to watch for behavior related to possible terrorism as well as everyday incidents that might escalate.
 
Post 9/11, civil liberties taken for granted as part of a free and democratic society are under pressure. New surveillance mechanisms and regulations as well as proposed forms of access to private communications are raising fears that some civic liberties may become casualties of terrorism.

A huge spike in white-collar crime and corruption by the heads of some of the largest corporations in the nation and the world accompanied the end of the boom economy.  As Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General said, “In an era of globalization, crime, too, has gone global, with criminals, terrorists, and drug tra