beautifulme's Blog

"Police in Boston say they're expanding the use of surveillance cameras in high crime areas.

The decision comes after two fatal shootings in the city's Dorchester and Roxbury neighborhoods were caught on tape earlier this year.

Police have made an arrest in one of the shootings and are pursuing leads in the second based in part on leads obtained from the tapes.

Police say the cameras captured eerily clear pictures of both crimes.

Not everyone is happy with the plan.

Civil liberties groups say the cameras are an invasion of privacy and residents say they were unaware of the cameras.

Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner, whose district includes parts of Dorchester and Roxbury says he's surprised police didn't hold community meetings before putting up the cameras. " where are these cameras, and do they really work. Some people might say it's an invasion of their privacy, but it would really help when people who witness crimes refuse to cooperate and no-one will come forward to say what they saw. so many crimes are going unsolved, does the homicide unit really give up after a certaing period of time, do non fatal shootings get investigated till someone is caught? I dont understand this system and sure as hell is fed up with all the shooting in my neighborhood, used to be before we would go to sleep and be awaken by the sounds of gunfire, but now it's happening in broad daylight while children are playing outside and families trying to enjoy theirselves. how does someone in a car do a drive by and just continue to drive while no one even gets a single look at the car, how does a person walk upto someone and shoot and no one notices anything. well just make sure these cameras are clear and if possible voice activated...I know it's a waist of tax payers money but hey it never hurts to try, I'm for anything that will decrease the violence in my neighborhood, and I say drcrease because I know it will never end.....

When are these judges going to learn?
    On a hot summer day last year - Boston’s bloodiest in a decade - Gregory Lodge pulled a .38 from his waistband on Dakota Street in Dorchester and threatened someone with it, police say.
    “What are you going to do? Shoot me?” the victim asked Lodge, according to a police report.
    The answer was yes, according to police. Shots were fired, but no one was hit. Police were called. The gun was recovered.
    And Lodge, 24, was soon arrested. His fingerprints were lifted from the Smith & Wesson .38 recovered after he was busted. He was identified by the victim and witnesses.

    This month, Lodge was brought to trial in the Suffolk County gun court, where a jury found him guilty of unlawfully carrying a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition and carrying a loaded firearm earlier this month.
    But guess what?
    Despite that conviction, Boston Municipal Court Judge Michael Coyne - who makes $129,369 a year - thought it was appropriate to give the convicted gun-toting thug a “stay of execution,” so he could get his affairs in order before he began serving the alleged mandatory 18-month sentence for illegally carrying a gun.
    Can Coyne explain to me what kind of “affairs” an unemployed hooligan has to get into order before going to jail? The possibilities are scary.
    Lodge was supposed to return to gun court last Tuesday so Coyne could sentence him. The con was a no-show.
    And now he is on the lam.
    The “stay of execution” comes just weeks after Roxbury District Court Judge R. Peter Anderson allowed accused gunman Lyndon Scott, 18, to be released on a paltry $250 bail for after he was arrested on charges of illegally carrying a loaded weapon - and using it to shoot a man in the back on Blue Hill Avenue.
    Never mind the fact that the teen was already out on bail in connection with another armed assault.
    These judges should have to camp out on Blue Hill Avenue in Roxbury, where Boston cop Vaden Scantlebury got into an armed encounter with a teen - with his young daughter in the car. They should have to move into the Morton-Talbot Corridor in Mattapan, or Cape Verdean gang territory in Dorchester.
    Then maybe the most liberal wrist-slappers on the bench would smarten up.
    In 2006, Boston police arrested 723 people on firearms-related charges. Yet, the gun court prosecuted only 295 cases, convicting 170 - letting the other 428 escape prosecution.
    Of those cases, 35 suspects were released back into society before even being brought to trial because a gun court judge ruled that the police had no probable cause to stop the suspect. Every one of those suspects, however, did indeed have a gun, police say.

    The National Guard could join forces with the BPD this morning and sweep through hot-spot neighborhoods to bust every gun-toting lowlife in the city - but unless the judges who are responsible for protecting us from the ugly growth of gun violence step up, it is the citizens who crave nothing but peace who will continue to suffer.

this was an article in the Boston Herald on Monday 8/6/2007.....

 

I'm not sure if you guys read my past blogs, but I said it so many times, the system pick and choses which cases they want to prosecute. it's like they study the individual and say well maybe if we let him go he'll change and not do it again, and then the other ones they say, yeah he looks like a criminal he deserves to be behind bars. How do you let someone walkout on $250 bail after being busted with a gun, and then someone else arrested few hours later on the same charges sits in jail for 60 days and when he returns to court he's sentenced for 18 months. This judge wanted to let him out to take care of his affairs, where is he now?
These people carrying these guns, they watch and observe other gun cases so when they get caught they'll know what to do.  Why do you think so many people toss a gun when they see the cops, they know if it's not in their possesion when their arrested, they have a better chance of getting away with it, no matter how tough the law becomes, people out here always find a way to out smart the law. They may commit stupid offences, but they know how to get off and get away so their not that stupid after all. Do you agree?

So now do you guys see why no one in the community talks or says anything when they see a crime being commited. This young woman with so much to live for was gunned down all because of what she saw or what she might have said. The police will push you talk, but once they get what they want, they dont give a damn about you anymore. How can you testify against someone and think thats the end of it, even if their convicted, the peoples they left on the outside will come after you and your family. I'm sure theres a witness to every crime, but this is the reason no one gets involved. It's a crazy world we live in. Why do you think people are killing eachother, they feel like life isnt worth living anymore, their not scared to die, alot of these neighborhoods are like a war zone, you see gun battles right outside your door, but u walk inside and forget what you just saw and go on with your business. These people are thinking kill or be killed, nothing else, thats why they carry guns. I recently went to a funeral for a close friend and I constantly think about something the priest said. "Guns kill, guns dont protect". If someone is walking around with a loaded gun ready to shoot, u best believe he has intensions to use it. This weekend alone 3 homicides, how is that possible.

well a good friend of mine was murdered this weekend on the streets of Boston. I'm saddened and terrified that people continue to kill eachother and it's like no one cares anymore. I know some people probably didnt even hear about because there wasnt any media coverage, but he wasnt just the 3? something victim of the year, he was a human being with friends and family that cared about him and he didnt deserve to die, and neither does anyone else, at least not at the hands of another human. I see all these cops walking the streets, parked on street corners and rushing around with theiri sirens on, why are people still being shot and killed everyday? I dont understand it anymore. This young man was like a little brother to me, treated my kids like they were his nephews and even called my nana his nana. He was full of life and to get a phone call saying he's dead, i'm still speechless. What is wrong with society today, what are we teaching the younger generation. If anything it's either kill or be killed. They always hear about someone being in jail because they had a gun, or someone got shot. It's a never ending situation and the city isnt doing enough to get these people and these guns off the streets. This will go down in the book of unsolved homicides. We should have a new TV show called "Boston Unsolved" or "Welcome to Boston, city of violence" It's not a pretty sight when you drive around and see a memorial sight on every street corner.

Where are these guns coming from, when did people start being so heartless to shoot someone dead and just vanish. Seems like thats whats happening, they just vanish into thin air because their never caught. The city isnt doing enough to catch up to this murderers and their not properly investigating every crime. I bet you 50% of the people who has shot and killed someone has been arrested numerous times on other violations, but never suspected of being involved in a murder so they just walk away and continue on with their daily lives. I think same way the system pushed people around to talk during their investigation of the Chiara Levin case they should start doing that for other cases as well. Even though they didnt know who shot that fatal bullet, both suspects have been charged with murder, so does that mean if a car load of guys pull up and kill someone in a drive-by all the occupants will be charged. How many times have we seen case like that and those people walk away for lack of evidence. Where's the evidence and the witnesses in the Levin case. I'm just tired of the shootings, the killings and the way our city is working to protect hard working families who pay way to much taxes and too much period just to live from day to day. My friend is dead now and all we can say is R.I.P Samuel Docanto. your gone from our appearance but not from our hearts.

So is it just me or has everyone else just about had it with these shootings and killings in our neigborhoods{ the streets of Boston} we had 4 or maybe 5 homicides this week alone. I'm tired and i fear for the safety of everyone walking the sreets of Boston, you never know if your going to be next. I understand the police cant be everywhere at all times, but maybe something needs to change. all these young adults, that generation is being wiped out by stupidity. either being killed or locked up. it doesnt even matter the time of day anymore, i wake up to sirens and i go to sleep to sirens. It's the summer time we should only be hearing icecream trucks coming up the street and not no speeding police car rushing to the next crime scene. my family has been victims of crimes, victims of homicides and so has many other families, were all tired. when is it going to end, how many more bodies. I know the Mayor nor the police  chief doesnt live by the sounds of gun fire in their neighborhood, but they have an idea of what were going through, we need help, and we need it now. alot of peple in the community would be packing up and moving out if they could afford it, i always heard about people being shot and so forth and never knew how it felt till it hit my own family 1 time to many. i live with the pain of losing my brother and the fear of losing another family member. Mothers dont sleep because their sons and daughter sare out there on the streets, children hide and run from any popping sound they think is a gunshot. it shouldnt be like this. Boston is a very beautiful city, with beautiful people, how can others be so heartless to take another humans life. Our city is crying for attention and instead of tears it's pouring out blood.

Just wanted to ask have any of you guys been getting jury duty notices for your kids. Last year I recieved one for my daughter who was only 12 at the time and I called them and they removed her. This year I recieved them for all of my kids ranging from ages 1-13. What is wrong with the system? do they not know that these kids are under age? It's a waist of paper and time. I've gotten several notices, and then the notice with the location and then the reminder notice. It was kind of funny when i got one for my daughter who is only 1 then when they started coming for all the kids, even for my younger sister who doesnt even live with me i said wait a minute this is crazy. Just hope they dont show up with arrest warrants when these kids dont show up, or yet I should just bring them in on that date and see the reaction from ppl. It's just crazy.

Congratulations to the BPD for proving that they can actually solve cases that they dedicate 100% of their attention to. What happened to all the other cases that happened before Chiara Levin's case. Did they all just get put on hold because she was an aspiring young woman from Kentucky with a college degree who was working in New York for a big company and who's parents hold big name titles and she was white. This is what upsets me. Only after she was killed did the Guardian Angels come out from hiding and the violence in the city was taken seriously. How did they get witnesses to come forward in this case? I just wonder about stories like this sometimes. At first they were assuming that Jason Barbosa was in the car with her, so they broadcasted his name and his personal life all over the media. Now the story has switched up and it's toataly different. I feel bad that this woman had to loose her life, but so many other lives have been lost on the streets of Boston but none got as much attention as hers. Why is that? I'm upset right now and it brings me to tears to know what my family has been through do to violence and to know that their cases still remain unsolved or the suspect never got prosecuted just because...Right now alot of families want answers, why is it that our families killers are left to walk the streets and eventually get away while others get first priority. Iknow alot of people will not agree with me but hey this is just how i feel. and I'm pretty sure if it happens to your family you would feel the same.

I read blogs on here about the current issues of violence in Dorchester/Roxbury, and some people have turned it into a big joke. This is serious, some of you may call our neighborhood a zoo or call our youths animals or whatever and laugh it off and say let them kill eachother or the situation isnt news worthy. You might as well be a killer yourself because thats what you do to the people of these neighborhoods who read these blogs. I'm crushed by some of the stuff I read on here, my GOD has everyone really given up on us. Think about the pain some familes go through when their child is killed, lives are shattered and changed forever. My younger brother was murdered almost 2 years ago, his murder still unsolved. I can tell you my mothers life has not been the same ever since, and the young children in the family still trying to understand why would someone take their uncle away.  It's ashame that the Guardian Angels will come out here and step in and try to help and our own people within the community does nothing. I see the police out there standing on Bowdoin and Geneva, but thats the area where Chiara Levin was killed. Was that a wake up call for the police to step up or was it just because she was from out of state and a college student with a bright future who's parents are wealthy.  We have shooting accuring in so many places within Dorchester and Roxbury but I dont see the cops walking around there. Where I live all the males that hang together have been shot with in the last 2-3 years even strangers who might be walking around here have been shot at just because they were thought to be one of the guys from around here. It's sad. I'm tired of it all, the shootings, the killings, the neglects and the sarcasims from outsiders who dont live here and have no idea what it's really like for us. It's sad that I cant let my kids go outside to play in a nice weather or even worst school children cant even enjoy reccess or outdoor activities because of fear. It's nice to read about all these gun arrests everyday on BPDNEWS.com that means one less murder for the city. I agree the city does need more police out on the streets. We wanna take back our streets, we want to be able to sit on our front porch and enjoy the fresh air, I want to be able to send my kids to the corner store for milk and not worry that something will happen along the way. Most of all I want all the violence to end and for these people to put the guns down and think twice, think about the families you hurt when you take away their loved ones, think about your own families when you get caught for a murder and your put away for life, and for those who dont get caught is it worth living in fear watching your back every second of the day wondering if  the person who's life you took if his peoples will come and kill you or wondering when will the police come banging on your door cause someone was brave enough to speak out and say who did it. Life is the most precious thing we have how can people be so heartless and not value life not only do they not care about the person their killing, they dont care about their own..It's a sad world we live in today. It's not just a Dorchester/Roxbury problem it's a nation wide issue.