Crime fear seeps back into Hub

by Thomas Keane Jr.
Friday, August 1, 2003

It's a good thing we're a two-newspaper town.

The Boston Globe this week headlined a story, ``Violent crime rate increases in Boston.'' And the Herald, on the same day and referring to the same press release from the city's police department?

``Boston crime rate on downward slide.''

So, who was right? Well, the Herald, of course. But it's possible to make a case for both readings.

As the police department notes, overall crime for January through June dropped 5 percent compared to January through June of last year. In particular, homicides and rapes went down.

At the same time, there was a bump up in some crimes - most notably commercial robberies - that ended up pushing the number of violent crimes up 3 percent.

Interesting numbers, to be sure, yet in truth that's not what our attention to crime statistics is all about. It's about fear.

When we worry about crime, we worry about random crime - the kind that strikes without warning. Most people, for example, don't dread domestic violence. That's not to diminish the gravity of those crimes, but (perhaps foolishly) few of us worry about our own spouses.

But for those who have followed events over the last few weeks, the news has been disturbing.

On July 1, a stray bullet struck 3-year-old Kai Leigh Harriott as she was playing in her third-floor apartment. She is now paralyzed.

On July 4, a lesbian couple was attacked while watching fireworks in East Boston with their two young children. Lisa Craig suffered severe head injuries.

And just this week, someone savagely beat to death Seng Hao Tang, a 70-year-old resident of Chinatown who had just finished his early morning Tai Chi exercises on the Boston Common.

This is scary stuff - the kind of stuff that can hurt an entire city.

Boston and other major American cities underwent an extraordinary renaissance during the 1990s, one that reversed the historic flight of middle-class people out of the city. That renaissance rested on one key element: Crime dropped.

Over the years, all kinds of crimes, and especially random crimes, plummeted. The effect of that was to make people feel safe. They no longer were afraid to come into the city or live here.

If that hadn't happened, people would have stayed in the suburbs; others would likely have moved there. Cities like Boston would have continued the slow decline that started in the mid-part of the 20th century.

The drop in crime was no accident. The city had implemented a new strategy of policing. Called the ``Boston model,'' it stressed collaboration between police and community leaders. It focused on quality-of-life issues, such as prostitution and graffiti. And rather than just responding to crimes, police worked to identify potential troublemakers and get ministers, families and others to intervene.

But is the Boston model still working? There is some sense that the effort people once put into making such dramatic strides in public safety is no longer there. ``Some people have gotten complacent,'' said Mayor Thomas Menino, without naming names. People seem too prone to dramatic gestures - he dismissed them as ``parades and speeches'' - rather than the hard job of working with kids one-on-one.

And for a long while Police Commissioner Paul Evans has been warning that demographic changes inevitably would push crime statistics up. The reason? Most crimes are committed by teens and young adults. A late '80s mini-baby boom means an uptick in those about to hit their teenage years.

So, is crime up? The latest numbers say no, especially if you subtract the rise in commercial robberies, which are not the kind of random crimes that create alarm.

Yet if you walk through Boston Common, go and watch fireworks, or even just sit in your apartment, the numbers aren't what count. We are becoming more wary, more cautious, more worried. Fear is slowly seeping back into our lives.

Talk back to Tom Keane at tomkeane@tomkeane.com.