By Patrick McGroarty
News Editor

State Police trooper Brian Dunn was among the first officers to respond to reports on the afternoon of Saturday, March 24 of a fight beneath the Neponset Bridge. As he nosed his cruiser up under the bridge, a group of 20 to 30 teenagers, some brandishing baseball bats and pipes, scattered. In the resulting melee he managed to detain a pack of about 10 teens, most of whom he says were very familiar faces. The kids were warned to pack up and head home, but later that evening there was yet another near-violent encounter between teens under the Neponset Bridge.

Kids from Adams Corner and other Dorchester neighborhoods, mainly high school students, have been a problem for state police since last summer, when the standard neighbor complaints of teens congregating and drinking in state-owned parks escalated to reports of a physical feud between Adams Corner teens and their peers from West Roxbury. As the feud carried into the fall, officers devised a summons program that brought more than 100 teens from Dorchester, South Boston, and Quincy into local district courts for a stern lecture from law enforcement officials, but spared them official charges that could lead to a potentially door-closing criminal record.

But the fight last week, apparently the result of a new feud between Adams Corner teens and their private school classmates from Quincy, has pushed troopers to warn community groups parents, and the teens themselves that the new policy is, "less than zero tolerance."

"It's not even summer yet, and we are not going to be out there chasing these kids from place to place again," said Dunn. He continued with a messaged directed at the teenagers themselves:

"Don't be in Toohig Park after dark, certainly don't be drinking there, and don't get into a situation that could have criminal consequences, because we're not going to let you off this time," he said.

Dunn said that he delivered a similar message to the ten teens he managed to corral under the Neponset Bridge two Saturdays ago, almost all of whom had also been involved in the scuffle last summer and fall with teenagers from West Roxbury. He also met this week with administrators and involved students at BC High, and intends to do likewise at Boston Latin and private high schools where he knows these teenagers are students.

The schools were also partners in the diversionary program that operated until early this year, which had strong support from people like William Farrell, an assistant clerk at Dorchester district court.

"[The state troopers] understand when it's time to give someone a break, and when someone has abused the opportunity to learn a lesson," Farrell told the Reporter in January.

Dunn says that it is now time for the latter strategy.

"The diversionary programs we had in place before are going to be out the window because we're trying to keep these people alive," he said. "We can't have people running around with bats and knives and things like that."

Physical danger to the kids, said Dunn, is the primary motivation for adopting the zero tolerance policy. But he also urged teenagers to think about how serious criminal charges might complicate their college and career aspirations.

"They know how far backwards we have bent over for them to keep them from having a record, but now we don't have that luxury," said Dunn. "Everything you do has consequences. They have to decide if they want to explain to an employer why the were expelled from BC High after two years, or if they want to explain to a college why they have an arrest record."

Dunn also pointed out that at a time when Dorchester in particular was under a great deal of scrutiny for an increase in violent crime, officers did not have the time to be lenient with teenage partiers.

"As the second fight was going on last weekend, around 10 p.m., there was an armed carjacking at the intersection of Dorchester Avenue and Freeport Street. So here are three troopers, dealing with this juvenile fight, while they could be out looking for an armed car jack."

There were no incidents in Dorchester this past weekend involving teenage revelers from the Adams Corner neighborhood, and Dunn said that he has subsequently learned that the feud with Quincy rivals may have ended. But a fight did occur about a week ago in Savin Hill, reportedly between the same crew of Dorchester and West Roxbury rivals.

"Anyone we find with bats in their car who isn't dressed in a baseball uniform, they're gonna get locked up," said Dunn.