Latest news ...DISTRICT 4 COMPSTAT MEETING – MARCH 20, 2024
SBNA attended this meeting and once boston police posts the minutes we will link to them. Meanwhile, here are some take-aways from the meeting: Police Commissioner Cox spoke about the importance of community policing and engagement with the District 4 residents -police can only help with a problem if they know about it so please reach out to the department. He acknowledged that there are still problems in the Mass/Cass area, some that are beyond the remit of the police to fix, but the police will continue to work with the community towards a resolution. Community Service Office – Sgt. Joseph Narduzzo (former liaison officer, Sgt. Matthew Hogardt,has been promoted to Lt.) reiterated the role as a liaison between the police and the community . His goal is to hold community meetings to work with residents on day-to-day quality of life issues and take community information to District 4 personnel for action Sgt Narduzzo's 2023 highlights included youth/police basketball game and barbeque; delivering Thanksgiving dinner to needy families in the district; and the St. Stephen Youth Program coat drive Ryan Walsh – Analyst, BRIC (Boston Regional Intelligence Center) spoke and his role includes : -being the central point for collection of intelligence data, both criminal and terrorist - coordinates with Federal, State, private sector and local/regional agencies CRIME TRENDS Some positive news Crime trends as of 2023:are declining in some categories - 50% decline since 2000 in violent and property crimes - firearm violence – down 20% from 2022 – firearm recovery continuing Common type of crimes to pay attention to: Shoplifting continues to be a challenge throughout Boston. The key areas include Newbury Street and the Prudential Center. If you spot something alert the police Phone Theft tends to happen late at night, coming from bars, restaurants. DON’T GIVE YOUR PHONE TO A STRANGER TO MAKE A CALL – THEY CAN GET YOUR KEY DATA. FRAUD/SCAM ACTIVITIES – BE AWARE! Be aware of the following scams; Government Scam – caller says they are from a government agency; situation requires you to send money Family Emergency Scam – family member in trouble; you need to send money Tech Support Scam – someone has control of your computer; you need to send money to unlock computer Mail Phishing – mail/checks stolen from blue mailboxes on the street - police advice is to use online payments or take mail/checks to the post office BEST – Boston Emergency Service Team This is a collaborative effort with Boston Medical Center to deal with residents dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues . 311 vs. 911 Use 911 if the police need to be immediately involved, i.e. disrupted behavior; if you need EMS - use 311 for city issues that don’t the police, i.e. trash bins overflowing into the street. November 2023
Safety at Dartmouth & Stuart Streets intersection Some good news was shared by community member, Nina Garfinkel about the Dartmouth & Stuart Streets intersection -- the Boston Transport Department confirmed the area falls within City jurisdiction, with opportunities for short and long-term fixes. Funds for short-term changes will hopefully make it into the FY2025 budget, and if funded, could be done in the second half of 2024! Overall:· There is substantial interest in fixing this intersection by everyone. Short-term solutions:
Challenges:
• Propose a budget for design services to assess the whole “Dartmouth Street corridor” to ensure near-term efforts won’t interfere with longer term capital projects. • Initiate stakeholder outreach Begin to build relationships for changes along the corridor, which will be helpful both short and long-term. • Make on-the-ground fixes paint, light timing and other non-construction types of changes that can be made. Long-term fixes:
HOW YOU CAN HELP: Send letters Lend your voice by writing to Councilor Flynn and BTD to emphasize including the short-term project into the FY2025 budget, as it is a priority intersection given the number of people it affects. Send your letters to: Frances Oliveira, Community Engagement Specialist -BTD, [email protected] City Council President Ed Flynn: [email protected] Below is a template for your reference. Thank you for being fellow advocates for this important safety and accessibility enhancement to our neighborhood. "I/We want to express our appreciation for the staff’s work so far regarding this important intersection planning project that affects neighbors, workers, and visitors alike. It’s an intersection regularly used by children going to the Central Library, and everyone commuting in or out of the second busiest train station in the city (workers and visitors alike). Addressing this intersection would safely knit the South End and Back Bay neighborhoods together, with positive effects on commerce, culture and accessibility . As such, funding for the project should be included in the FY’25 BTD budget. In addition, we think there is a critical need to fund additional staff capacity in order to bring important safety projects like this to Boston’s neighborhoods across the city in a timelier manner. Thank you for your service and support." August 2023
Lock your cars and door!. A neighbor alerted us to an individual spotted checking car door handles and managing to find a car open and they grabbed something inside the car. Do remember to lock your car and doors at all times! November 2022.
We've had a few residents inquiring about increased drug activity in the Southwest Corridor and cars being broken into in the neighborhood. We asked our community officer, Sgt. Matthew Hogardt for an update. He responded: "I ran the numbers for both car breaks as well as stolen cars in your neighborhood from 7/1/22 to 11/16/22. Overall there were 3 vehicles stolen and 11 vehicle breaks. Of the 3 stolen cars, two were taken from the Copley Garage, and one from Mass Ave: all of them had the keys left in them. As far as the car breaks go, 6 occurred on the streets in your neighborhood, while the remaining 5 occurred in nearby parking garages. In EVERY instance that was reported to us, the car was left unlocked. Some people reported that nothing was taken (just left the interior messy) while others reported expensive items such as designer handbags or laptop computers were stolen. Considering the amount of residents (and cars) in your neighborhood, I would say these numbers look pretty good for a four and a half month time frame. Obviously, we strongly encourage everyone to make sure they lock their vehicles when they step away from them, and never leave anything of value (I'll even go so far as to say ANYTHING AT ALL) in plain sight in an unattended vehicle. If you could help spread the word to your neighbors, we'd appreciate it. As far as drug activity in the Southwest Corridor...yes, I'll pass the word to the officers here and ask them to keep an eye on the area. As you know, we've seen an uptick in this type of activity across the district, but we just received 11 brand new police officers here at District 4. This will give them a chance to get familiar with the Southwest Corridor and how it connects all the streets on St. Botolph with the streets off of Columbus Ave" Thanks Matthew for your prompt response and we are pleased with the good news of the 11 new officers for district 4. We are also grateful to Sgt Hogardt's for requesting increased surveillance around the entrances to our neighborhood from the Southwest corridor park. Stay safe everyone and remember report any incident no matter how small - the police will be more effective with feedback from the community. Need non-urgent Help?
We love this service from the city. Download the 311 app to your phone and life will get so much easier. You can go the the City of Boston for more details.
Needle request clean Up ?
Report a broken traffic Light? Get rid of a big item? Pay a parking ticket? 
You can also tweet@bos311 or download the app from the City of Boston website
Several residents have brought to our attention the intersection of West Newton and St. Botolph at the 7/11. Complaints include: trucks double-parking and blocking crosswalks, delivery trucks idling, trash on the sidewalks, patrons without masks and drug-related behavior.
We need your feedback about safety on our streets. Have you experienced challenges at this corner? We want to hear from you. Email us. Help us make our streets and sidewalks safer by sharing your thoughts. We are meeting with our elected officials on this important topic. Meeting with Transportation On Friday, December 18, 2020, Boston Transportation Chief, Chris Osgood, came out to listen to our residents' pleas for attention to the many safety issues we are faced with at several intersections in our neighborhood, including the West Newton/St. Botolph intersection, Garrison and St. Botolph intersection and the midway crosswalk at the Southwest Corridor. We'll have more details to share about this in the future, but we are encouraged by the beginning of a dialog to improve pedestrian safety. If you have experienced safety issues in this area, email us! Also, does anyone notice high speed traffic turning right from West Newton onto St. Botolph (heading towards Garrison)to avoid the signal at Huntington Ave? Email us! Mass/Cass Task Force
The intersection of Mass Ave and Melnea Cass Blvd is often referred to as "Mass/Cass." It is an area of Boston with a long history of serving the City's — and the region’s — most vulnerable populations.
The Mass/Cass area is experiencing an impact on public health, public safety, and quality of life. The Mass/Cass Strategic Plan was released in October 2019. The plan outlines the City of Boston’s strategy to address these issues. 
MASS/CASS TASK FORCE The task force advises the City of Boston on the Mass/Cass 2.0 plan. It is made up of:
November 9, 2020 Mass/Cass Task Force Meeting
A very informative community meeting was held recently. A zoom recording is available for this meeting - click here |
We are in District 4Our Neighborhood is protected by the District 4 station over on Harrison Ave. Our Commander is Captain Steven Sweeney
Sgt. Joseph Narduzzo is the Community officer for Area D . Tel (617) 343-4505 [email protected] Captain Steven Sweeney contact is : ( 617) 343-5522 or [email protected] To keep up with all the latest news follow the police on their Newsletter - click on logo below. 
District 4 Headquarters
650 Harrison Avenue Boston, MA 02116 TEL (617) 343-4250 Front Desk (617) 343-4250
Drug Control Unit (617) 343-4822 Auto Investigations (617) 343-4293 Property Clerk (617) 343-4250 Anti-Crime (617) 343-5375 Domestic Violence (617) 343-4811 Community Service (617) 343-4457 Car Talk
For some tips to help prevent car break-ins click here . Please do remember what may not seem valuable to you (those pennies in the cup holder)may be enough for someone to break into your car.... remove everything from sight!
Who are you gonna call ...
We all feel conflicted about involving the police if we see a homeless person behaving strangely. But if you feel threatened or you feel the person needs medical help. please don't hesitate to call 911. If you spot anti-social behavior call the D-4 Police Community Liaison at 617 343 4250. We have assurances from our local police and city officials that, if they get a call about a person clearly in distress, they are not necessarily arresting them, but bringing them to get help from city services.
Data Dashboard
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BPD Safe Exchange Zones
Barbecuing safety..Fire Safety prohibitions related to grills in the City of Boston.
Neither Liquid Propane tanks nor gas grills are allowed (no matter how stored) on rear decks, balconies, or roof decks. If you wish to have a gas grill on a rear deck or roofdeck, you will need to have a natural gas line installed by a licensed installer. Please note, gas grills using natural gas lines and propane tank gas grills are different critters. Converting a propane tank grill to a natural gas grill must be done by a professional or a new natural gas grill must be purchased. Charcoal or wood burning grills are similarly prohibited on decks or roofs. This includes small Hibachi grills that are sometimes seen used on rear decks or even fire escapes. The fire risk from wind or other factors cannot be underestimated. Electric grills ARE permitted on rear decks and roof-decks. Neighbors should familiarize themselves with the guidelines and rules found Here Want to sell or buy something online but wary of meeting a person on your own? A great solution developed by the police are BPD “Safe Exchange Zone” which are located at every Boston Police District Station across the city as well as BPD Headquarters. These areas are monitored via security video and available 24 hours a day. Additionally, these areas offer sufficient space to exercise social distancing during the transaction. The closest one for our neighborhood is a 12/15 min walk to 650 Harrison St.
Ensuring Personal Safety
It's tempting, in these stressful times to put those ear buds in and day dream aliens might abduct your annoying members of your household. BUT, please stay alert and aware of your surroundings. Police have alerted us that there is an up-tick of phones/bags being snatched as day dreamers stroll the corridor with both ear buds in. Try listening with one ear bud and stay safe!. Click here for more safety tips from Boston Police |
Stay safe and sound.....
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Public Restrooms
We've been alerted of some very unpleasant anti-social behavior - using the corridor park as a public restroom. If you witness this, call the D4 Police Community Liaison at 617 343 4250. Feel free to yell at them that there are public restrooms nearby at; Southend Library 685 Tremont St Back Bay Station The Prudential Mall The city has a useful page on where to find public restrooms all over the city. For details Click here |
Check your key/lock Box!
Recently, an unknown person attempted to take a key from an exterior lock/key box. They ripped open the key box ( no key was there) and tore the light sensor off the wall. The neighbor did the right thing and notified police. |
