Hub gets limited anticrime funding

Under pressure to respond to a surge of violence in the state's capital, Governor Deval Patrick announced an array of measures targeting crime yesterday, including a statewide anticrime council and new restrictions on gun purchases but only $900,000 in immediate funding for Boston.

The money, Patrick said, will allow the city to accelerate the hiring of 60 police officers, putting them on the streets in July, rather than early next year, as the city originally planned. The governor's initiative would also boost the city's grant for summer jobs by $350,000, to $2.25 million, an increase of more than 18 percent.

Patrick announced the program at a press conference at the Holland Elementary School in Dorchester, where an 11-year-old boy allegedly brought a gun recently and just blocks from where a tourist from New York was killed late last month.

Later, Patrick acknowledged his initiative might seem undramatic, given the bloodshed in Boston in recent weeks, but he said it would be effective.

"It wasn't intended or designed to make a splash," he said. "It's intended and designed to bring a practical response to the problem, here in Boston and elsewhere. . . . It's not just about spending more money; it's about spending money smartly."

While many community activists applauded Patrick's action, others said it would do little to stem the tide of violence in Boston, where there have been 16 homicides this year, six more than during the same period last year when the city's homicide rate hit a 10-year high.

"It's only a drop in the bucket," said Jean Maguire, a former member of the elected School Committee.

Lew Finfer -- director of the Massachusetts Communities Action Network, a coalition of urban activist groups -- said he was pleased that Patrick could set aside any money in these tight fiscal times, but said, "Given the scope of the problem, much more needs to be done."

Patrick -- who was joined at the event by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis, Attorney General Martha Coakley, and several other officials -- also said he plans to file anticrime legislation aimed at holding accountable some of the worst offenders. The legislation would require all offenders released after serving time to be subject to parole or probation; allow judges to hold defendants charged with gun crimes for up to 60 days before trial, so they are not free to threaten witnesses; and make it a felony subject to 10 years in prison to commit a violent misdemeanor while armed. It would also limit gun buyers to purchasing one firearm a month.

The plan also creates a statewide anticrime council similar to one that operated during the Dukakis administration and adds $1 million for summer jobs grants statewide and $250,000 in matching grants to support violence intervention advocates in emergency rooms.

"Overall, the package is good," said Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. "It moves us in the right direction. I'm particularly heartened by the bail provision that will allow us to detain dangerous felons. It will take these dangerous individuals off the street, so they won't be a menace to the neighborhoods.

"The city needs more funding, financial resources for both police services and intervention. But certainly this has to be considered a good start and a statement of commitment by the governor."

Patrick, who said he will file a request with the Legislature for an additional $3 million to $4 million to help cities and towns across the state with community policing and other crime prevention programs, unveiled the plan after a meeting with neighborhood leaders and students who attend the Holland's after-school programs.

Several expressed concerns about the escalating violence in their neighborhood. "I don't want to be afraid of getting shot on the way to the bus," said one teenager.

Patrick said he came there to listen.

"But I also want to say something, not as your governor, but as a black man," he said. "I want to tell you I know what you're talking about. In the place where I grew up, there was a lot of violence and, frankly, doing your homework, that was a hard choice.

"But I wonder how many of the adults sitting on this side of the room appreciate how hard a choice that is for the good kids. I want them to know . . . that we expect them to make positive choices and that our job, not just as government officials but as adults, is to create safe spaces for them to exercise those good choices.

"I'm talking here not just as an official," he said. "I'm listening here as an official and as a human being and as a black man who has experienced some -- some -- of what is worrying these kids and you."

Jorge Martinez -- executive director of Project Right Inc., an anticrime coalition in Roxbury and Dorchester -- said the summer jobs component of Patrick's plan is especially important.

"Summer jobs keep the youth from getting into trouble and help them learn skills," he said. "They weren't funded well until now. This is a good step forward. We've been reactive, rather than proactive, in the past."

Finfer said the initiative, arriving two months before summer vacation, came just in time, adding, "We have a crisis in Boston."

Raja Mishra of the Globe staff contributed to this report.

Correction: Because of a reporting error, the name of community activist Jean McGuire was misspelled in this Page One story about Governor Deval Patrick's anti crime initiative.