Cite drop in serious crimes
The scene inside the Community CompStat meeting at the Greenwood Memorial United Methodist Church last Thursday night, Nov. 6, 2025. Cassidy McNeeley photo
Boston Police command staff led by Commissioner Michael Cox met with neighbors in the basement of the Greenwood Memorial United Methodist Church last Thursday night for a briefing on crime trends in the Area C-11 district, which includes much of Dorchester west of Washington Street. The meeting, billed as a “Community Compstat,” drew about 50 people, along with a group of 20 uniformed officers.
“This meeting is really for you all,” Cox said in opening remarks. “We deal with crime all the time, and we have CompStat meetings where we come together and figure out how we are going to use the resources of our department (and) deploy people to actually address the crime or the fear of crime that is out there in the neighborhood.”
He added: “One of the things we noticed when we are doing these meetings: There is a missing piece: you all. We can address something we think needs to be fixed, [but] what if that data doesn’t match up to your concerns? What if we are spending all our time over here when you want us over there?”
A survey conducted by BPD’s Intelligence Unit before the meeting indicated that quality of life issues ranging from thefts of packages, fraud, and traffic safety are key problems that need to be addressed in the C-11 district.
Elizabeth Curtis, deputy director of the Intelligence Unit, noted that Boston is statistically one of the safest cities in the country, a reality that’s reflected in surveys her unit conducts with residents as well.
“People feel safe coming here, living here, working here, traveling here, and we want to make sure they continue to do so,” she said.
Across the city this year through Nov. 1, she said, “Part One” crime is down by 3 percent over 2024. Violent crime categories are down 5 percent — there have been three homicides on the C-11 district this year as opposed to 7 in the same time-frame in 2024—and property crime is down 2 percent. And residential break-ins are down by 15 percent.
However, commercial burglaries are up by 10 percent. To combat shoplifting and improve safety for businesses, workers, and shoppers, the BPD has established a safe shopping initiative that will use data to track incidents and focus on repeat offenders.
Katrina Mammoli, an analyst for BPD’s Community CompStat, said that larcenies are an onging problem in several neighborhoods, including Dorchester. The Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC) tracks and shares a weekly larceny report, she said. “This is a weekly bulletin that we share with our network of law enforcement partners that includes various photos of larceny incidents, including package thefts.”
She added: “If you have ever had your package stolen before, I encourage you to please file a police report. If you have photos or videos of the suspect, please send those to the detectives because we do utilize those photos and we send them to our law enforcement partners to see if they can make any identifications or identify any repeat offenders.”
Thursday evening’s meeting also touched on problems raised by neighbors in attendance, including one woman who reported that several cars in her neighborhood were broken into in the early morning hours the previous weekend. Detective Mike McCarthy, who leads the C-11 detective unit, said the station was aware of the incidents and responding accordingly.
“One of the things we have at the station is an email notification system, which goes out to all the officers in C-11,” McCarthy said. “When I recognize something like that, a few car break-ins during a particular time period, I notify the patrol officers through this system and have officers pay particular attention [to that area.]
Sometimes, the items stolen from cars can lead to fraud, Mammoli noted. She said that 258 fraud incidents had been reported to C-11 through the end of October with a total estimated loss of $3.9 million. Stolen credit cards and checks are a common tool to commit fraud, she said.
“Anyone can be a victim of fraud,” she added, saying, “It’s important to remember that if you feel you might be experiencing a scam to slow things down and verify the information with a friend, a loved one, a police department, or a legitimate bank or retail store.”
Traffic safety remains another cause for concern on the C-11 district, with hot spots that include the intersection of Washington and West Tremlett streets, Dorchester Avenue and Kimball Street, Washington Street and Talbot Ave, Linden and Adams streets, as well as the area around 500 Geneva Ave. The department has added more traffic enforcement at these locations.
Scooters— particularly unregistered ones— are another target for BPD enforcement, according to McCarthy, who said officers recently confiscated 13 scooters and two firearms as the result of an operation.
MBTA issues were also raised as concerns by several people at the meeting. One woman said her 12-year-old daughter, who needs to use the T to get to her BPS school each day, doesn’t feel safe riding the bus or train and another woman agreed and added that Ashmont Station has become a place where teens and young adults congregate and sometimes fight.
Peabody Square overall, another person reported, is a magnet for people who drink in public and sometimes menace passers-by. A walking beat officer has been assigned recently to the Ashmont-Peabody Square area in an effort to combat those sorts of problems.
The district also uses “directed patrols” to respond to 911 calls.
“In your area alone, there have been 429 directed patrols,” said Mammoli. “We see a lot on Geneva Ave., Bowdoin Street, Claybourne Street, and Westville Street. Those are the areas where we were seeing a lot of quality-of-life 911 calls. That’s how officers use the information from those calls. They tailor their police work, their direct patrol, to where those concerns are.”
C-11’s commander, Capt. Steve Sweeney, said that community input is critical to knocking down problems before they become more serious.
“At these community meetings, everything we say is, ‘Please call us,’” said Sweeney. “The numbers are up, so I see it as a positive because people are calling and I can direct resources there.”
Cox, in turn, said that the trust between officers and the public they serves is what makes Boston “different. I hate to say it, but we’re different. You know why we’re different. Our police department is different, our city is different, and we come together and talk about how we are going to fix things. Take hope in the fact that you live in a different place where we come together to resolve problems.”
Editor’s note: Area C-11 is one of four Boston Police districts that cover parts of Dorchester. Areas B-2, B-3, and C-6 also include sections of the biggest neighborhood in the city of Boston.
