To the Editor:

I am writing you in response to the editorial "Community policing undermined by red tape" in your October 13th issue. I have been involved in community policing for over 15 years as a volunteer activist in the St. Marks community. I was very upset to see that the Boston Police Department is withholding information from the public.

I was not surprised to read this. I have heard complaints from reporters from the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald that they also are not being given access to public safety related information as well. I think that it is very disturbing because the Superintendent of Police, which was our Captain at Area C-11 up til a few years ago went to civic meeting after civic meeting saying if you do not call 911 the incident never happened. So one must ask, is this the same scenario, if the police choose not to release crime related information to the public the community will assume that crime in their neighborhoods dose not exist.

I personally believe holding back this information can be devestating for our community. I am very concerned that people are being given a false sense of security in their community.

Recently there have been articles in the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and the Boston Phoenix where the Police Commissioner said she is learning to do more with less. The impression I got from these articles was that things are tight financially for the Police Department, but that's ok because they are doing more with less. This is very disturbing to me. The Boston Herald article said that we are between 400 - 500 police officers below the legal limit. The Boston Phoenix article headline was if you want to kill someone and get away with it you need to do it in Boston.

The Phoenix article goes on to say that Boston is one of the worst cities in the country when it comes to solving homicides. Our Community Service Offices are understaffed. The Boston Police Crime Watch Department is understaffed. I worry that our young men and women police officers are being stretched to their limits.

I have attended numerous Neighborhood Watch meetings in our community. The one thing I hear over and over again is that 911 calls go unanswered. In the fifteen years I have been a community activist in Dorchester I have never wittnesed things so out of control. I understand that money is tight, but cutting police officers and holding back information from the public in hopes to give the impression we are coping well, is wrong.

-Barry J. Mullen

Florida Corridor Neighborhood Association