Recently, this newspaper editorialized about a new Boston Police Department (BPD) policy that has impacted our coverage of local police activities, most notably in the Dorchester-Mattapan Area B-3 district. Our concerns- aired on this page on Oct. 6 - focused on a BPD rule, long on the books but just now aggressively enforced, that requires all press inquiries to be made through the Commissioner's office.

This procedural change, aimed at centralizing police communications and controlling the department's "message", has essentially cut off communications between our newspaper and the B-3 district. On several occasions, requests to interview the B-3 commander about issues both complex and routine have been denied. That policy remains unchanged at this writing and continues to pose a serious obstacle to the dissemination of news and analysis about police activity in large parts of this neighborhood. And the fear exists that the gag-order, which is not evenly enforced nor adhered to in other parts of the city, will spread.

Our alarm over this BPD rule is grounded in more than twenty years of experience in covering these neighborhoods. We are keenly aware of the pivotal role that a district commander plays, not just in administering local police activities, but in acting as a community leader.

In the last several years, the Reporter has partnered with various district police commanders to develop a number of innovations in the way police news is passed on to the public. In our view, great progress has been made in alerting our readers and the broader community to crime issues as a result of this cooperative effort.

For instance:

• In 2000, in consultation with Area C-11's then-district commander Robert Dunford (now Superintendent of the BPD), Area C-11 police began providing daily police log reports to the Reporter for our review. The Reporter- like all citizens- has every right to view the documents as public information. But Dunford took additional steps to make sure that the Reporter received them at our offices on a daily basis. As a result, we have published an abridged and edited version of the logs in our newspaper for the last five years. A similar police log is also published in the monthly Mattapan Reporter, which began in 2003.

• Dunford's successor at C-11, Thomas Lee- now a Deputy Superintendent- further improved upon the release of police logs to the Reporter by arranging for the daily logs to be e-mailed to our office, a practice that has continued uninterrupted to this day.

• Just last year, before his departure, Lee partnered with the Reporter and Dorchester activist Bill Walczak to create a pilot program that provides regular police log information to interested citizens via e-mail. The E-lert system, as it is called, was piloted in Columbia-Savin Hill last fall and continues to grow. Feedback from the program, solicited in a survey conducted by Walczak last summer, was extremely positive and resulted in the subsequent expansion- with the support of Mayor Menino's office- of the e-mail system to several other Dorchester communities.

It should be noted that these and other innovations, aimed at increasing the public's awareness and understanding of local crime trends, were made possible by the willingness of police commanders at the district level to partner with citizens outside of the department.

The willingness of district commanders to cooperate with the local press, to be visible, accessible and accountable not only to us but to the myriad community and crime watch groups in our community which depend on their leadership and guidance on public safety matters, serves to underline the danger that we see in the new, restrictive BPD policy. Many of the best strides in the community policing programs of the 1990s were made by district commanders like Bob Dunford and his predecessor at C-11, Paul Bankowski.

Presently, the two police districts that cover Dorchester's C-11 and B-3 district are commanded by energetic, highly decorated and intelligent men who have years of experience and have risen through the ranks of the department. Both captains- Francis Armstrong and Timothy Murray- have made it a point to be visible, accessible and accountable- not just to this newspaper- but to the public at large. Like their predecessors, they personally attend community meetings, answer and return phone calls from crime watch leaders and elected officials, and strategize with community leaders about new and improved ways to fight crime and improve safety. They are part of the solution, not part of the problem.

In moving forward, the BPD should look to the progress made through such innovations as outlined above. In addition to making documents available at district stations, the BPD should follow the lead of other large cities- like Chicago- and create an interactive website where redacted, timely police log information can be posted for public consumption. Rule 300, the BPD policy which restricts and often, prohibits communication should be revised so that district commanders can speak without fear of punishment by their superiors.

The Reporter is confident that Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole is an ideal, willing partner. She has a track record of identifying needed reforms in other departments, including the Boston Fire Department and the Northern Ireland police force. And we have every reason to believe that O'Toole will act in good faith to fix the present problems that we have outlined.

By centralizing the release of certain public information through an effective citywide website, O'Toole can help ease the tremendous demands on her staff. At the same time, by decentralizing control of field commanders and allowing them the opportunity to enter into a dialogue with local leaders and press, she can continue to allow for innovation in a field that Boston has long prided itself: Thoughtful and effective community policing.