Boston police take to streets to reject Trump ‘thugs’ remark, celebrate community policing
Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans had not been in Almont Park in Mattapan long Monday evening before residents rushed over to greet him. Some, like Cynthia Lewis and her great-niece, Amiah, leaned in for a photo with Evans. As the smartphone clicked, Amiah smiled broadly, her hand on her hip.
Several feet away, a group of girls gathered around Mayor Martin J. Walsh and gave him a high-five.
Walsh and Evans were among a host of elected officials and police officers who traveled to neighborhoods across Boston Monday and Tuesday for National Night Out, an annual campaign aimed at strengthening police-community relations and reducing crime.
The event drew crowds across the city, a show of unity that contrasted sharply with the kind of heavy-handed policing President Trump encouraged during a speech last week about gang violence.
“We work hard at events like this . . . to build respect and trust with the community,’’ Evans said before addressing the crowd at Brighton Commons, his first stop during National Night Out. “There’s been some troubling times on police-community relations, and the last thing we need to do is encourage the police in overstepping their bounds. We aren’t about hurting people, we’re about helping people.’’
During his opening remarks in Brighton Commons, just blocks from the police station where he worked as a captain years ago, Evans said he had first learned about community policing there. As he spoke, officers handed out hot dogs and cake to the crowd.
“We do it best in Boston,’’ said City Councilor Annissa Essaibi-George, who denounced Trump’s comments as “the opposite of what community policing is.’’
Trump’s remarks, while widely condemned, come at a time when police departments across the country are seeking to mend relationships with minority communities following a series of high-profile cases of police brutality. Boston has avoided the kinds of clashes between police and residents that have led to riots and protests in Ferguson, Mo., Baltimore, and New York City.
“National Night Out started [over] 30 years ago and the intention back then was to build strong community-police relations, identifying that there was an issue,’’ Walsh said. “We’ve taken it to the next level. Building that trust and relationship is important.’’
The Boston Police Department has been praised for its community policing efforts, which include events like “Coffee with a Cop,’’ basketball games with youth, peace walks, and police-youth dialogues that help officers and teenagers get to know each other.
Such efforts are critical to reducing crime, Walsh said.
At Horatio Harris Park in Roxbury, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley thanked residents for providing information that allowed Boston police and Suffolk prosecutors to make arrests in 20 homicides, including five from 2016.
“That’s the kind of thing we’re trying to promote here tonight — more trust between law enforcement and the community,’’ he told the Globe.
The type of policing Trump referenced will not be tolerated, Conley said. He pointed to the recent conviction of a former MBTA police officer who was found guilty of beating a Roxbury woman at Dudley Square Station three years ago.
“It very rarely happens, but when it does we’re going to hold officers accountable,’’ Conley said.
Complaints about Boston police officers’ use of force have declined in recent years, to a low of eight in 2016, according to the mayor’s office.
“They know the people in the community,’’ said Lewis, a community organizer. “There is a conscious effort to be connected to the community.’’
Lewis said Trump’s comments promote “violence and hatred,’’ the opposite of what the Boston Police Department stands for.
Last Friday, Trump told a group of law enforcement officials “ . . . and when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon — you just see them thrown in, rough — I said, please don’t be too nice.’’
Yusuf M. Ali, 32, lead organizer for Mattapan United, said Trump’s remarks were concerning “because there have been too many instances where police killed people.’’
On Monday, a White House spokeswoman said she believed Trump was joking when he suggested police should rough up suspects.
But state Representative Russell Holmes, a Mattapan Democrat, said Trump “need not joke about something serious.’’
Holmes said Trump’s words reminded him of the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old who suffered a spinal cord injury while in police custody. His death set off a series of riots in Baltimore.
“Trump needs to choose his words carefully,’’ Holmes said.
