By Brian Denitzio
News Editor

District Four City Councillor Charles Yancey is continuing his call for a redistribution of manpower in Boston Police districts. Earlier this month at District C-11's monthly community meeting, Yancey called for the city to base decisions about manpower deployment on the amount of violent crime in districts.

This week, police officials responded that Yancey's critique looks only at one factor in making a determination about deployment and that the department considers a number of factors in ensuring equitable deployment citywide.

"The administration must take action to adjust law enforcement deployment so that neighborhoods with the highest percentages of violent crime will have higher percentages of police coverage. It's an equation to reduce crime in the City of Boston," said a press release from Yancey's office circulated after last Thursday's meeting.

The release compared officer deployment levels and homicide statistics in two police districts: Dorchester's Area C-11 and Beacon Hill's Area A-1. It states that C-11 has 21.9 percent of the city's homicides, while receiving only 7.9 percent of the city's deployment. In comparison, A-1 had 2.7 percent of the city's homicides but received 13.1 percent of the city's police deployment.

Current manpower levels, Yancey's statement contends, contributes to higher crime rates in some neighborhoods and contributes to the stress some officers experience.

In a phone interview this week, Boston Police Superintendent Robert Dunford, the former commander of District C-11, said that the department seeks to provide equitable service and deployment throughout the city, while still keeping a segment of uniformed officers available for deployment in areas of the city that need extra assistance.

Deployment is determined by a number of factors, Dunford said, including the incidence of part 1 crime, other crimes, service calls, the geography of the district, the demographics of the district, and the number of schools in the district among a number of other factors.

Yancey, he said, uses too narrow a set of criteria to determine deployment.

"He's trying to use very few indicators, as a sole indicator of how police should be distributed," said Dunford.

Providing equitable service for all residents of the city is the top priority, Dunford said.

"The real issue here is of equity," said Dunford. "Every citizen in the city has a right to a level of police service and what the department tries to do is provide that level of police service no matter what."

However, once that level is reached, Dunford said, additional officers can be deployed to areas of the city that are in need of additional help.

Last year's spike in violent crime and homicides in the city had many activists and politicians calling for a increase in the number of officers on the streets. More officers would be useful Dunford said, but how those officers are deployed is of greater importance.

"More cops always help, more resources always help but it's really, how are you using your resources," said Dunford.

"We need to deal with what we have; you cannot deny one neighborhood in this city an equitable level of police service."