Stemming the Violence: Springfield’s Search for Answers
by Bill Dusty
If violent crime wasn’t the number one political issue before last weekend, it certainly has thrust itself into first place these past few days. Last weekend’s bloodbath, which resulted in the city’s 15, 16 and 17 homicides of the year, has been followed by a series of shootings this past week. Even as Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno has declared a “war on crime” in the city, it doesn’t appear the violence is about to end anytime soon.
Gang and drug violence has always been a hot-button issue in Springfield, but the outcry these days has reached a fever pitch as frustrated residents are calling out their leaders and demanding that something get done. Mayoral candidate Bud Williams, meanwhile, has seized on the recent shooting sprees as evidence of Sarno’s failure to safeguard the city. Calling Sarno’s “war on crime” too late in coming, the long-time City Councilor is calling for a return to what he says is “real” community policing, according to his campaign Web site. “Community policing means officers walk the beat, know the people and work with residents to identify hot-spots for criminal activity. Community policing is setting up substations in neighborhoods where residents see who protects them,” wrote Williams on his site, while he dismissed other efforts, including the recent implementation of the Springfield Police Department’s “text-a-tip” crime reporting program.
On this past Tuesday, the SPD hosted a forum at Western New England College to educate residents on how to secure their property and report crimes to police. The event, called “Safe Nighborhood Night,” coincidentally came on the heels of the prior weekend’s three homicides. Also on hand that evening were representatives from the television station WGGB, including reporter Kathy Reynolds, who hosts the station’s “Crime Files” series. “Crime Files,” which is televised each Tuesday evening at 10pm on Fox-6 and 11pm on Channel 40, profiles of some of the city’s most wanted fugitives from justice. The series is also available on the station’s Web site.
Springfield’s residents – particularly those who live in the poorer neighborhoods where much of the city’s violence is occurring – seem shell-shocked by the barrage of gun violence this year. Last year there were 16 homicides all year. The murder of 18-year-old Brittany Perez last Sunday brought the city’s homicide toll to 17 so far this year.
SCENES FROM “SAFE NEIGHBORHOOD NIGHT”
The house was packed at the Springfield Police-sponsored Safe Neighborhood Night event, held at Western New England College on October 21, 2009.
Officers from local law enforcement stood by booths offering information on crime prevention and safety.
After a meeting with city councilors and other officials, including State Representative Cheryl Coakley-Rivera, Sarno and Springfield Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet announced that the Massachusetts State Police would be dispatching a special squad of officers to assist the SPD’s efforts to combat crime in the city’s streets. A state police Community Action Team (CAT) unit was set to report for duty on that evening and be available throughout all of next week. Fitchet said that CAT teams typically consist of 7 to 8 officers. Noticeably absent from the meeting, which brought together both city councilors and school committee members in show solidarity at City Hall, was Bud Williams and his colleague and supporter, City Councilor James Ferrera.
Not everyone agrees that an added police presence on the city’s streets will bring any long-term results. (Indeed, as if to exemplify that belief, the very night the CAT squad was scheduled to report for duty two more shootings occurred.)
“I’m not a big fan of a large influx of police into a particularly bad neighborhood,” said Ward 3 City Council candidate Melvin Edwards in a recent interview. Edwards said that in order to turn a neighborhood around, you need to change more than the number of cops on the streets. He said that smaller issues like code enforcement, job creation, and home ownership are keys to making a community safer.
Other candidates have other ideas. Ward 8 City Council candidate John Lysak would like to see an auxiliary police force set up to supplement the SPD. “The Springfield Police Department is very well trained,” wrote Lysak in a recent press release, “and I am sure they will catch whoever is responsible for these crimes. But they need help.”
Both Lysak and Williams have called for the enforcement of a citywide curfew for 18-and-under residents. But critics of that idea say that a recent ruling by the state’s Supreme Judicial Court would make any such move short-lived and possibly open the city up to a lawsuit. The SJC in September struck down a similar curfew in Lowell, a ruling that could act as a legal precedent should Springfield be brought to court for its own curfew enforcement.
While Springfield’s leadership looked to calm residents as they searched for answers to the city’s spiraling violence, at last Tuesday’s Safe Neighborhood Night event, Mario Hornsby Sr., father of slain Central High School student Mario Hornsby Jr., spoke passionately about the need for families and individuals to take up the mantle of responsibility in their neighborhoods. Urging them to stop blaming the mayor, the city council and the police, Hornsby called for the city to pull itself together.
“When are we going to be adults and take control of our communities?” he asked the estimated 700-plus crowd. “We need to take back our neighborhoods,” he told them, his booming voice filling the hall. “We need to take back our communities from our children who are terrorizing them.”
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1 Response for “Stemming the Violence: Springfield’s Search for Answers”
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Bill: I have been participating in the “Junior Police Academy” Training program held every Wed. in Spfd. One very key piece of information pertaining the crime on our streets is something that Holyoke Police Chief Anthony Scott has tried so many times to take action against but has been unsuccessful in controling is how these violent criminals are being released after repeated criminal acts. We were told by the Springfield Police Dept. that one such individual had stabbed and killed 2 men in the past, and upon his recent arrest was released by a judge who has a knack for releasing such characters. Why this happens in Springfield is beyond me, but there has to be some reason why the judges repeatedly let these offenders go free while our city is left to pick up the pieces.
If this is anything you might want to look into, I would really welcome you to consider writing an article about this issue. The police do not have enough man power to patrol the streets that are ridden with these violent repeat criminals. (We need Police Chief Scott to act as in an advisory capacity on our city’s behalf.) Too bad our judges don’t seem to care much about the crime in our neighborhoods. I wonder which towns THEY reside in?