Boston City Council Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee Hearing on Violence Prevention, Firearms, Summer Safety, and Noise, September 10, 2026

Chair Henry Santana convened the Boston City Council Committee on Public Safety and Criminal Justice at 10:09 a.m. on September 10, 2026, for a combined hearing on Dockets #0185, #0999, #1390, #1419, and #1602. The hearing addressed a cross-sector community safety and violence prevention strategy, firearm trafficking and gun violence hotspots in Districts B-2/B-3, a community-based summer public safety plan, noise complaint enforcement, and codification of the Office of Violence Prevention with a biennial violence prevention plan. It continued into the afternoon and included administration officials, community providers, and public testimony; public speakers were generally given three minutes. Councilors Murphy, Culpepper, Flynn, Fitzgerald, Louijeune, Worrell, Weber, Pepen, and President Breadon participated or joined during the hearing.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Louis Elisa, president of the Garrison Trotter Neighborhood Association and Roxbury resident, called for better police-community communication, advance planning for large Franklin Park events, walking beats, active enforcement of traffic laws, and support for Councillor Flynn's concerns about 16-hour police shifts.
• Stephen Wilson of Black Men United Boston urged creation of a standing committee followed by a task force so police, prevention programs, schools, hospitals, and community groups work together rather than in silos; he said residents do not feel safe and the city needs a real prevention strategy.
• Asia Jackson, a lifelong Roxbury resident and worker, said residents in Nubian Square do not feel safe, asked for neighborhood-level data rather than citywide averages, and called for walking beats, staggered shifts, youth pathways, mental health support, and long-term resources for neighborhoods most harmed by violence.
• Larry Calderon, Patrolmen's Association president, said the department's focus on guns and homicides was convenient while larceny, domestic violence, and non-domestic assaults are up; he said officers are forced into double shifts, morale is damaged, and there are under 1,600 patrol officers against a roughly 2,500-officer ordinance strength. He opposed using drones instead of officers and asked to have rank-and-file officers on future hearing panels.
• Terry Dilworth, a Fort Hill/Highland Park resident, described recurring large student parties and noise in his residential neighborhood, said a recent 9:30 p.m.-to-3 a.m. party received no police response despite calls, and urged universities to take responsibility for housing and managing their students.
• John Smith St. Cyr, founder of the J.L. Smith Suicide Prevention Center for Young Black Boys, said violence prevention must start with poverty, housing instability, failing schools, and untreated trauma; he argued investment should be concentrated in the neighborhoods carrying the most violence. He said his program served over 30 young Black boys this summer and hired 10 youth peer mentors.
• Luann O'Connor supported Councillor Flynn on officer overtime concerns, said BRIC funding was withheld and local ComStat meetings she tried to attend were cancelled, and argued the DA's office is not enforcing existing gun laws.
• Jacqueline Fonseca, a Dorchester resident and violence survivor, said mental health is severely underfunded, citing $4.2 million for school-based youth mental health versus $484 million for BPD. She urged mental health first aid, peer-to-peer support, and healing for communities, victims' extended families, and offenders.
• Alex Alex proposed a Boston Suburb Games to build community trust and described personal encounters with BPD he found aggressive; he recommended community events that allow police to serve as community members.

Discussion Items

• Boston Police Department data presented by Director Brian Walsh showed major crime roughly even year to date through September 8, 2026, with violent crime up 2% and down 2% against the five-year average. Summer gunfire incidents totaled 79, the lowest since 2011 and down 34% from 2025; summer shooting incidents totaled 37, the lowest since 2005; shooting victims totaled 57, up from 46 in 2025 but the second-lowest summer total since 2005. Officers recovered at least 126 firearms this summer, including 29 with high-capacity magazines, two sear switches, and 13 privately made firearms.
• The 2025 Boston Firearm Trafficking Report, cited by the department and Councilor Culpepper, found BPD processed 819 firearms, about 515 crime-related, including 54 privately manufactured firearms, 11 sear switches, and 71 high-capacity magazines; top origin states for crime guns were Maine, Massachusetts, Georgia, and New Hampshire. Councilor Culpepper said the firearm recovery map showed 90% of recovered firearms in Districts B-2/B-3 and asked why prevention and enforcement were not more concentrated there.
• BPD leadership described community policing as foundation, citing 3,681 community engagement events, 315 community meetings, 31,069 walk-and-talk directed patrols, and 614 scooters/motorcycles seized this summer, nearly double last summer's total. They also said non-fatal shooting clearance in B-2/B-3 was over 50%, more than double the national average, and that after-action reports from events like J'ouvert and Caribbean Carnival changed deployment and reduced incidents.
• Councilor Murphy asked for an honest conversation about why residents felt less safe despite positive data. Isaac Yablo of the Office of Violence Prevention said trauma does not reset annually and perception is shaped by life experience and social media exposure, while BPD said it used forecasting to keep district coverage during FIFA and other downtown events, with zero incidents at FIFA.
• Councilor Culpepper pushed back that Roxbury and Dorchester residents saw shootings while resources were downtown; he requested a stronger community-based summer safety plan, more walking beats, and a sustained presence in Nubian Square. Councilor Flynn said officers are working 14-16 hour days, morale is poor, and the city has a public safety staffing crisis; he called for a citywide commission and restoration of police health and wellness funding. BPD command said exact officer numbers were not immediately available, estimated around 2,000 officers, and stated overtime was often voluntary; Patrolmen's Association witnesses disputed that account.
• BPD and OVP officials discussed firearm trafficking, gang involvement, intervention ages, and reentry. Yablo said the average age of gun violence involvement in Boston is about 27, that the Office of Violence Prevention has reorganized SOAR-style street outreach into data-informed intensive case management, response teams, and prevention programs, and that hospital MOUs are signed with three of the four major hospitals outside BMC. He also said evaluation capacity is being expanded with about $150,000 invested.
• Councilor Fitzgerald asked about street takeovers and scooters; BPD described training, education, intelligence-led enforcement, and use of criminal and quality-of-life laws when riders are unlicensed, unregistered, or unhelmeted. Councilor Pepen thanked the moped task force and asked for neighborhood-level compliance and seizure data.
• Council President Breadon raised recurring off-campus party problems and inconsistent enforcement. BPD detailed Ordinances 16-26 and 16-50, the social host law, the keeper of a disorderly house statute, and the problem property task force as tools for fines, equipment seizure, and landlord accountability.
• The second panel focused on prevention and youth opportunity. Robert Lewis Jr., president and CEO of Boys & Girls Club of Boston, said Boston should aim to be the best city for young people, not just the safest; he called for connecting existing youth programs, convening philanthropy and business leaders, investing in public housing communities, and extending youth-serving hours because most organizations close by 7 p.m. and most are closed Saturdays. Kevin Barton, executive director of Youth Connect, said social workers embedded in police stations serve about 500 young people ages 10-24; he called for stable multiyear funding, noting a $595,000 gap, and for continued support for housing, jobs, education, mental health, and record reform. Terry Dilworth repeated his concerns about off-campus party noise and lack of police follow-through.

Key Outcomes

• No votes were taken on the dockets themselves; the hearing was held for information gathering and public comment, and all five dockets remain under consideration.
• Public testimony will be made part of the record and available to all councilors.
• Councillors requested follow-up data on neighborhood-level crime, scooter/motorcycle seizures and demographics, and police district-by-district statistics; Councilor Culpepper also proposed monthly BPD-Council briefings.
• Councillors indicated they will continue work on the Shannon Grant, youth program funding, and the proposed codification of the Office of Violence Prevention in the next budget cycle.
• Per the agenda, Councilor Culpepper invoked Rule 12 to add Councilors Worrell and Flynn as original co-sponsors of the hearing dockets.