By Sasha Link
Reporter Correspondent

A veteran Boston Police officer from Mattapan, who is already on the front lines in the battle against violence, is using his spare time to tackle crime from a different direction.

Mattapan resident Bill Willis, a K-9 officer and 21-year veteran of the Boston Police, has wrapped up a documentary about violence and its impacts on city residents.

The film, entitled "Shot in the Hood," is a 43-minute film featuring interviews with a range of people, whose lives- in some shape or form- have been affected by violence. Edited by Emerson College student Josh Kirchmer, the movie is due to be screened at the upcoming Roxbury Film Festival.

"I want to show this at every school, every community center, every church," says Willis. "Really, to anyone who wants to see it, I want to put it out there."

After a long search, Willis was successful in finding a host of concerned people to share their perspective and concerns on this matter. Local educators, judges, parents and youth each shared personal stories along with advice on ways to begin educating youth before it's too late.

Willis interviews one young person who was left paralyzed by a shooting- and is confined to a wheelchair. He also introduces us to another teen, who after heading down the wrong road initially, is now in college and dreams of becoming an astronaut.

"I went to community centers (in search of interviews) and sometimes people would say to me, 'Oh, you're looking to talk to gangbangers," Willis recalls. "I said, 'No, I want to talk to kids period. If they have an interesting story to tell, I will find it. Everyone who walks in our city and sees a teddy bear on a pole, they are impacted by violence."

The title of this documentary, "Shot in the Hood" is a metaphor for where the film takes place, which is in Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury.

"I think a lot of this movie and the things I'm doing now stem from what I went through in high school," said Willis.

Born in the South End and raised in Roxbury, Willis attended Charlestown High where he was a captain of the football team. During his time at Charlestown, he witnessed the shooting of 17-year-old Darryl Williams, a standout athlete who was shot on the football field in 1979 and is now paralyzed. This experience left "a big impression in my life," said Willis, who hopes to one day make a documentary about that incident.

Willis feels there is a need for transformation in the community where he lives and works. The documentary, he hopes, will draw attention to the bubbling violence he sees too often near his home.

"I wanted to make a change with this movie. I saw what was happening out in the streets with the young people and honestly felt as a police officer we were being ineffective in some ways in stopping the violence," said Willis, who believes that a greater focus should be geared toward education.

"Just our presence out there alone is not going to stop the violence, but I wanted to [aim toward] the prevention mode."

Having seen and experienced what it's like to struggle, emotionally and physically in his days growing up, Willis is in a place in his life where he can look back on and recall what it feels like to go through what these youth are facing.

"I've struggled in life. I've been on my own since I was eighteen," said Willis. "I put myself through college. I didn't get my degree until I was forty years old. I went to three different schools. It was a struggle, it wasn't easy."

And this process of evaluating his experience through the documentary has given Willis a clearer perspective on what the youth need to get through.

"Looking at my neighborhood [today], a lot of kids in that area really didn't make it out," says Willis. "A lot of them were arrested, incarcerated, died, or just disappeared," Willis added.

"One of the kids I interviewed in the movie, his father has been incarcerated for about 10 or 11 years," said Willis.

"I grew up lower, lower class with a lot of violence" explained one interviewee. "I come from that violence, that drug abuse, that kind of family."

In this documentary Willis recall memories when he was younger that made him wonder if every child had to live in the circumstances he did.

"It's like they lived as if they didn't have kids…Coming from a broken home and a lot of b.s., growing up around the poor side of society…it's still harsh," Willis added.

Though it may seem as if 45-year-old Bill Willis stands in a different place in his life today as a father, a husband, he has not forgotten where he came from.

"My role as police officer is my profession, it's how I feed my family. I love my job," said Willis, "but that is not who I am as a person."

"I want to be [viewed as] a human being that grew up in the community, that lives in it, that's concerned. I'm an artist, a tennis player, a home maker."

Creating films has always been a dream for Willis, who was once an art major at William Patterson College in New Jersey.

"My primary goal [was] to have a story about kids by kids," he said.

To find out more information on this documentary contact Bill Willis via e-mail at Bill_M_Willis@yahoo.com.