No feuds over blood-stained turf
LAW ENFORCEMENT officials, of all people, should know the importance of tempering their response to a provocation, real or imagined. That's why it is especially disappointing that Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley is escalating his feud with Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis.
Citing his broad power to control homicide investigations, Conley this week directed state troopers to lead investigations of homicides on property in Boston owned by the MBTA and other state agencies. It's a slap at the Boston Police Department, which maintains a sizable homicide unit capable of responding to every part of the city. DAs typically yield jurisdiction to Boston, at least at the practical level. But Conley isn't in a relinquishing mood.
Law enforcement officials have long memories, especially of affronts. Conley was livid when Davis replaced a supervisor of the Boston homicide unit in July without consulting the district attorney's office. Davis should have shown more respect for a traditional agreement that brings DAs in on such decisions. But it was an understandable oversight by a relatively new commissioner who was making major personnel decisions. Conley overreacted, and he continues to do so.
Few murders occur on T or state property in any given year. There is little likelihood that detectives from different agencies will be clashing at crime scenes. The bigger danger is that bad relations between the police commissioner and DA will derail important crime prevention strategies or even hamper active investigations. It's already happening. Boston Police, for example, want to publicize a video taken at the March murder scene of James Williams of Dorchester. It could help in the identification of the suspect. But Conley won't release the tape to the media, fearing it might taint his future efforts at prosecution. It reflects the growing gulf between a police commissioner anxious to improve the department's arrest rates and a prosecutor who is focused mainly on conviction rates.
The safety of Bostonians depends on the ability of police and prosecutors to create the right balance leading to timely arrests that also stand up in court. Interdepartmental feuds don't lead to such a result. The state Executive Office of Public Safety needs to step in and mediate this situation before it escalates any further.
The time may also be ripe to form an independent commission to look at how the complicated jurisdictional issues in Suffolk County might be affecting crime clearance rates, investigative techniques, communication, and crime prevention. Former US Attorney Donald Stern, whose tenure in Boston in the 1990s was marked by a high level of cooperation among state, local, and federal law enforcement officials, would be a sensible pick to lead such an effort.
