Boston City Council Holds Hearing on Downtown Safety, Boston Common Drug Activity

BOSTON — November 26, 2024 — Boston City Council committee examines downtown safety crisis with calls for coordinated citywide action. The Committee on Public Safety and Criminal Justice, chaired by Councilor Henry Santana and driven by lead sponsor Councilor Edward M. Flynn, heard from two panels and roughly a dozen public witnesses at a November 26 hearing on Docket 1562, covering open-air drug dealing, assaults, and needle waste in the Boston Common and Downtown Crossing corridor. A survey of more than 300 residents by the Downtown Boston Neighborhood Association, presented by co-founder Rishi Shukla, found 71 percent feel less safe than at the start of the year and 91 percent rate public safety as an urgent issue. Deputy Superintendent Dan Humphreys said the Boston Police Department is deploying foot-patrol Community Interaction Teams to areas of community concern and directing officers to file 311 complaints directly from the field. Parks Deputy Commissioner Steve Bickerton confirmed park rangers lost their arrest powers in 2021 under state POST Commission changes, and multiple councilors said restoring those powers is worth pursuing. Both the Suffolk County District Attorney's office and the head of the city's Coordinated Response Team were absent, a gap that panelists and residents called out by name as a critical obstacle to breaking the cycle of repeat offenses.