BostonVagrant617 t1_je2ph9v wrote on March 28, 2023 at 11:47 PM

Reply to comment by willzyx01 in Woburn man, 46, dies after attack in Downtown Crossing on St. Patrick’s Day by Solar_Piglet

What do you mean by "put them to work"?

Being the downtown area of the biggest city in New England, groups of rowdy and trouble making teens from all over the region have been flocking to DTX probably going back to the 19th century.. Do you want to age restrict the area? Do you want all teens stopped and frisked? How do you prevent a sucker punch? Just handcuff and detain all teens?

What do you want the police to do? If it's a specific group that can be identified and there's PC for arrest, you arrest them.... but after that point it's out of the cops hands', and up to the prosecutors, and the laws on the books for juvenile offenders won't lock them up.... and it's up to the people at the local level to change the laws...

We need root cause solutions that give teens superior options than hanging around DTX selling drugs, or getting into trouble... More community centers, sports programs, video game centers for kids, dance studios, etc ... just give the kids something to do, and out of trouble.... job opportunities, job training, etc.

vesperka t1_je4t6oc wrote on March 29, 2023 at 12:46 PM

The issue is that people aren't being arrested for committing crimes.

I used to live in the area where Boylston and Washington meet and I had a great view of the intersection where CVS is. I've seen so much crime happening in broad daylight that never gets addressed.

My favorite example is drug dealing in the elevator at the Chinatown T stop. A few guys would walk inside and a few would stand outside to prevent people from using the elevator. I once saw them legit turn a guy in a wheelchair away from using the elevator. There's also a row of blue bikes there, and the criminals would just sit on those bikes all day dealing drugs. The police are well aware of this but they never make arrests. At best, maybe one day a week a couple of officers would stand on the corner for a few hours.

People feel emboldened when they brazenly commit crimes with no consequences, and it will only trend worse unless something is done to address it.

BostonVagrant617 t1_je5979o wrote on March 29, 2023 at 2:44 PM

I thought the focus here was on rowdy teens, and unprovoked attacks? But if you want to pivot to drug dealing, we can....

Let me ask you something, what do you believe will happen if the police arrested all those drug dealers by Chinatown Station and the blue bikes? How long do you believe the dealers will be held for? Do you believe the people buying drugs from those dealers will cease buying drugs?

Even if the police did a big sweep and arrested all the dealers around Chinatown Station (which is not as simple as it sounds, typically the police have to conduct multiple undercover purchases or they have to witness a hand-to-hand transaction come up with reasonable suspicion to stop the individual who just bought the dope, then come up with PC to search their pockets, recover the drugs, then track down the dealer who sold to them... it's not that simple, you got to remember people have rights, and if the police don't follow procedure all the charges will be dropped at arraignment) ..... So let's pretend BPD did a big sweep.... 90% of those street levels dealers will be back on the street the same day, or within a few days if they have outstanding warrants that needed to be cleared up/resolved in court....

So the users will still be on the streets seeking drugs, most if not all the dealers will be back, and those dealers who are still held will simply be replaced by new kids looking to make some quick money.....The best case scenario seems to be that the dealers may move from Chinatown over to a different corner, and then when that corner gets too hot, they will move on to a new one, and eventually will end up back at the Chinatown spot... that's how this shit works.... it's called the balloon effect...

The problem is our drug laws.... We need to just accept reality, and start allowing legal sanctioned organizations to provide clean/tested drugs to users for free/cheap, that's the only way we can begin to start restoring order, and take power away from the unregulated and violent blackmarket...