We are indeed in the throes of summer here in Boston, and unfortunately the mercury is not the only thing simmering. In lockstep with the most recent heat wave to hit the Hub has been an ever-emergent crime wave.

The Governor's race, Massport, the Big Dig; all of these pale in comparison when faced with the stark reality that there has been an alarming 80 percent surge in gun crimes in Boston over the last six weeks. Eighty percent over a six-week period is beyond comprehension, yet the hue and cry has been absent. Absent that is, until an innocent ten-year-old girl became the victim of an assassination gone awry.

In the roll call of homicide victims it will be recorded as the City of Boston's 26th homicide of 2002. In reality however Trina Persad had just finished fifth grade, never to see sixth and more than likely she was attacking summer as only a child can do. She was playing with her friends in a park near her house just around sunset when a dark colored sedan rolled down the street and in one cowardly flick of a finger a young life was forever halted and an entire city awakened from its slumber. The irony that Trina Persad was killed in Jermaine Goffigan Park was almost too much to bear.

It was the early 1990s when Boston, still reeling from record-high 152 homicides, was rocked to its core by the abhorrent killing of Jermaine Goffigan, a 9-year-old cut down in a hail of gang crossfire on Halloween. Jermaine's slaying and the sickening increase in gun violence would serve as the city's catalyst to stemming the tide of violence. The Goffigan murder would serve as local law enforcement's cornerstone to what would eventually be known nationally as the "Boston Miracle."

The "Boston Miracle" -otherwise known as Operation Ceasefire -was as simple in its approach as it was effective in its results. All areas of local law enforcement worked in concert to identify, isolate and prosecute the worst perpetrators of gun violence. The result was an immediate and precipitous drop in crime that was so pronounced the entire nation took notice.

Why is our national crime model seemingly not as effective as it once was and why is our city facing such an alarming rise in crime? The reasons are varied and complex, but some facts are quite clear: every month 250 prisoners are being released from the Suffolk County House of Correction. Many of these newly released inmates are former gang members that had been locked up during the heyday of Operation Ceasefire. They are re-integrating themselves onto street corners that no longer "belong" to them and the current "owners" are taking offense, thus creating a budding gang war. Many city residents and community activists who have been down this road before hope that the senseless slaughter of Trina Persad will prove to be the catalyst to awaken local law enforcement from their slumber and reinvigorate our cities diligence against crime.

Operation Ceasefire was a nationally recognized model for a reason; it was not an accidental occurrence. Its success was unparalleled, the unique coupling of various law enforcement agencies and community and religious leaders with a common goal proved debilitating to crime. We as a city need to concern ourselves less with why we strayed from the model and concentrate our efforts toward recapturing it. We need to ensure that the architects of Operation Ceasefire like Boston Police Commissioner Paul F. Evans remain in place. Evans, who was named to the post in 1994 and oversaw the dramatic drop in crime, remains without a contract and without the pay raise he was poised to receive four months ago.

Also, the single most important election facing Boston residents this year will be for the highly contested position of District Attorney for Suffolk County. The District Attorney's office is an essential component in the success of Operation Ceasefire. It is a well-defined role that goes beyond successful prosecution of felons. No one knows this role more so than the current Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley. Conley, who recently announced the arrest of the two suspects in the death of Trina Persad knows full well the role of his office in quelling the rise in crime and is eminently qualified to do so. As a prosecutor, Conley helped lead the fight in the late 1980s against the increase in youth violence in Boston, especially among gang members. Through their prosecutions of violent offenders, Conley and other prosecutors helped write the first chapters of what would, during the 1990s, become a nationally recognized and afore mentioned Operation Ceasefire. With vital cogs like District Attorney Conley and Commissioner Evans committed to reenergizing the stagnant law enforcement collaborative the city will hopefully soon see the reemergence of the "Boston Miracle."

Philip J. Carver is a lifelong Dorchester resident and community activist.