Officers address homicide, race, community policing at Rox meeting

Boston Police Department Superintendent-in-Chief William Gross and Deputy Superintendent John Brown spoke Jan. 10 to a gathering of people who have lost loved ones to homicide in communities of color.

Boston Police Department Superintendent-in-Chief William Gross and Deputy Superintendent John Brown spoke Jan. 10 to a gathering of people who have lost loved ones to homicide in communities of color. The event, held at Roxbury’s Bethel Baptist Church, was organized by the Women Survivors of Homicide movement.

In an hour-long session, the two officers fielded questions on homicide investigations, officer diversity, community policing, 911 response times and other issues of concern to community members frustrated with unsolved murders and perceived lower levels of police responsiveness in black neighborhoods.

A woman whose brother was murdered nearly five years ago said she’s heard nothing from the detective, and asked what she can do besides wait.

“I just want to know that his file is not just collecting dust,” she said.

Brown, who since early 2014 has led BPD’s Criminal Investigation Division, including the homicide unit, said, “These officers are in court every day. They don’t call you when there’s nothing new. I know it’s difficult when it’s unsolved, but I will make sure you get what you need.” He approached her after the meeting for more details.

Brown outlined changes and improvements he is instituting for homicide handling: new monthly case review meetings where the homicide unit and the district attorney’s office go over every case together; meetings with victims’ families in their homes instead of at police headquarters; more dialogues with teens and partnerships with youth-serving organizations; homicide unit web pages that highlight unsolved cases and victim-witness support services; and new detectives of color recently added to the homicide unit.

“I’m doing everything I possibly can to make the homicide unit a better place,” he said. “I want nothing but justice for those who have suffered their loved ones murdered.”

A personal outrage

Women Survivors of Homicide founder Mary Franklin’s husband Melvin was murdered in Dorchester on Oct. 15, 1996. He had taken the bus that night from his job as a Northwest Airlines skycap at Logan Airport. Walking the last few blocks toward their Woodrow Avenue home, he interrupted a robbery in progress and was shot and killed. The case remains unsolved, and the apparent intended victim has never come forward.

Franklin has told this story many times. She remains haunted by the knowledge that someone escaped harm that night and yet did not help identify the shooter.

“How does that person sleep?” she asked, her outrage loud and clear.

Franklin has channeled her pain into helping others. She started the Melvin’s Mission Day Program, a six-week program for women who have lost someone to homicide. In addition, she has become an increasingly vocal activist. Through the WSOH movement, she is calling for more minority and female homicide detectives, a better witness protection system and increased cooperation by murder witnesses.

At the meeting, Franklin pressed Brown on the diversity numbers. Of 38 people in the homicide unit (including an accident reconstruction team), 10 are people of color, including a Cape Verdean resident of Dorchester, Brown said. The number of females is two, down from three as a black female homicide detective recently was promoted to sergeant.

Gross noted that homicide work is not for everyone; many officers, white and black, are not ready to take on the middle-of-the-night calls or the grim nature of homicide work.

“You do not pressure people to come to homicide unit — you’ll get poor investigators,” Gross said. “You motivate them so when they’re ready, then they come. It’s one of the toughest assignments, and we want the right people in place.”

Off the homicide topic, several attendees spoke of a persistent feeling that police and dispatchers place a lower priority on the city’s black neighborhoods and people. They recounted making 911 calls and having no police come, taking detailed notice of an incident and informing police but never being contacted as a witness, and being stopped and subjected to disrespectful treatment by police for no apparent reason except being a black man.

Open dialogue

Gross countered these tales with assertions that much has improved at BPD since times past, and that BPD is known far and wide for its good community policing.

“Ten years ago, I never thought I’d be a police chief,” he said. “It’s totally different now. I’m black, I know what you’re talking about — but the game is changing.”

His descriptions of BPD’s programs for seniors and visits to local schools, and Brown’s highlighting of the gun buyback program and the restraint BPD officers showed during Black Lives Matter protests did not quell audience assertions that the game hasn’t changed enough.

When Gross noted that many dispatchers are black and live in the neighborhoods and “They’re not going to not send someone just because it’s a black neighborhood,” a ripple of murmurs erupted, leading him to add, “But it’s up to us to change that perception.”

During and after the meeting, the offers stressed that having an open dialogue is crucial and that they and the community need to work together. They expressed hope that residents would go to the BPD website and see the information and positive stories there.

Franklin vowed to hold police accountable to the community, and also exhorted attendees to take action, be vocal and urge their neighbors to say something when they see something.

“The police cannot do it all,” she said. “We can’t keep being afraid. How do people live with themselves, if they have quality information about murders and won’t step up? I understand the witness protection program isn’t sufficient right now — but the Women Survivors of Homicide movement is working on that.”

WSOH is working now to engage Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley on improving witness protection so residents will be more willing to speak to police, she said.

Franklin is also circulating a petition asking Mayor Martin Walsh to designate the impact of homicide on women as a public health crisis. She announced she has secured a one-on-one meeting with the mayor later this month to discuss what she believes homicide survivors need from city government.

On the topic of unsolved murder cases, the officers echoed Franklin’s call for people to speak up when they know something.

“We’re not magic,” Gross said. “We can’t go forward if we have no witnesses. The plan has to be to get everyone involved, so if you see something you say something.”

Brown added, “You will never get these cases done without credible witness testimony. We need someone to come and say, ‘That’s the guy who did it.’”