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Boston Globe

Wu, city officials announce summer safety plan as gun violence rebounds from historic low

Wu said the city holds holds weekly meetings to coordinate its anti-violence strategy between city departments, community organizations and social service agencies, both during the summer and quieter months year-round. The city's summer safety plan has been developed over the past four months in consultation with community leaders and through neighborhood meetings with residents, said 'We do an excellent job of responding to violence when it occurs and helping others recover from violence,' Yablo said. 'But it's not enough to only do that, we have to have a long term plan.' Advertisement Cox said spikes in violence often occur during summer time, as rival groups use the additional time spent outside during long days and warm nights to reignite conflicts that may have cooled over the winter. 'Sometimes these interactions lead to skirmishes and things of that nature,' Cox said. Advertisement Points of emphasis for the city and community officials include street safety and effective community policing, as well as funding community events and safe spaces for young people, Yablo said. The city this summer is expanding its 'Boston After Dark' program, which holds free events for teens on Friday nights. Wu has repeatedly described Boston as the safest major city in the U.S. Last year, Boston saw its lowest number of homicides in 67 years — an achievement city officials described as validation of years of work to improve policing, social services, and violence intervention outreach. So far this year, gun violence numbers are on pace to rebound, though they still remain near historic lows. This year, 43 people have been shot in the city, including a man experiencing a mental health crisis who Cox said he could not comment on a pair of Memorial Day stabbings in Yablo said the city's gun violence prevention strategy is centered on '100% engagement with individuals that are most likely to shoot or be shot.' A large part of that work is proactive, through building relationships with at-risk people before a violent incident. And after a shooting, the city uses those relationships to immediately contact victims, connect them with social services and interrupt cycles of retaliation, Yablo said. Advertisement Cox and Yablo both said the city is also focused on responding to quality of life concerns from residents, including fireworks, loud parties, and Cox said the police department is also focused on building rapport with residents, to help prevent incidents and ensure that witnesses come forward when violence does break out. In November, the department launched 'Community Interaction Teams,' deploying officers to walk beats and increase communication with residents, Cox said. Those teams were initially placed based on crime data, but future deployments will take into account community feedback, Cox said. 'We can't provide public safety without the trust of our communities,' Cox said. As Cox spoke, 54-year-old Dorchester resident Paulo De Barros stood listening on the steps overlooking the amphitheater at Mother's Rest. De Barros, the head of the Cape Verdean Association of Boston, said he has noticed real change in his native Bowdoin-Geneva neighborhood, long a hotspot for poverty and When he was younger, the Cape Verdean community had a tense relationship with the Boston Police Department, De Barros said. Now, he said, there is greater trust due to the department's outreach and diversity efforts. 'You actually see a lot of community policing, a lot of relationships being built,' De Barros said. 'And I think it has to do with a lot of Cape Verdeans being in the force and kids seeing police as a normal person, an individual, a resident, a family member.' But the city could still do more, according to De Barros. There is still not enough culturally competent mental health services for survivors of violence, he said. Advertisement 'Trauma is a major thing in the community,' De Barros said. 'There's a lot of loss, a lot of violence.' Bisola Ojikutu, the city's Commissioner of Public Health, said she considers violence and the legacies of trauma it leaves behind to be a public health priority. 'We still have violent events. We still have this sense of instability sometimes within our neighborhoods,' Ojikutu said. 'We want to get to the roots of that. We want to actually fix this problem.' Dan Glaun can be reached at