Walking the beat, bridging a gap

Walking up a steep hill on Georgia Street yesterday morning, the Rev. Oscar Pratt and Officer James Gunn approached a woman on her way to a nearby post office. The Catholic priest shook her hand and then introduced the tall police officer. A lively conversation ensued about crime in the Grove Hall neighborhood of Boston .

"Hopefully, we can make a difference," Gunn told the woman.

The woman, whose name was Connie, replied, "I think it's good that you're out here, but the first place it needs to start is in the home, because a lot of these parents are scared of their own children."

The 42-year-old woman, who did not want to give her full name because she feared retaliation, then told the two men that her son had been robbed at gunpoint in December near the intersection of Blue Hill and Talbot avenues.

About a dozen such police-clergy teams roamed the Grove Hall neighborhood yesterday, walking routes that had been mapped out in advance. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., they struck up conversations with residents on busy street corners, in shops, and in cars.

With deadly violence plaguing several of the city's neighborhoods, members of Boston's Black Ministerial Alliance are attempting to help bridge the gap between police and residents, hoping greater cooperation between them will help stem rising violence.

Next Saturday, another set of clergy and police officers will walk through the Bowdoin/Geneva neighborhood, and in the following weeks, other teams will visit Franklin Field and Egleston Square. These unprecedented get-acquainted sessions originated from a meeting two weeks ago between the black ministers' group, Mayor Thomas M. Menino , and Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis III .

Before yesterday's walk, the clergy and officers got acquainted inside a neighborhood church. Sitting in a large circle, they took turns introducing themselves. "The way to start is to get to know each other," said the Rev. Jeffrey Brown, standing in the middle of the circle. "This may be a little on the touchy-feely side, but this is what we have to do if we are to go out and introduce ourselves to the community."

Davis, standing nearby, said, "The basis for community policing is relationships. This isn't rocket science."

After Brown paired the clergy members and police, he said in a loud voice, "It's likely that not everybody is going to be as friendly as you are. It's important that you don't push it. And don't forget, this is a good thing -- smile."

Near the entrance to Grove Hall's Mecca Mall , a shopping plaza at the intersection of Blue Hill Avenue and Washington Street, some of the groups bumped into each other, and the cluster of uniformed police officers drew wary stares from some passersby. But as the clergy introduced the officers, the cold stares gave way to conversation.

Another woman who would only give her first name, Yvette, told the officers that prostitutes and drug users often congregate on Blue Hill Avenue in the early morning hours. "Everyone knows everyone around here, so people are scared to speak out," she said.

While the talks were mostly cordial, one woman told a clergyman, "I don't talk to police." And one youth refused to shake the hand of one of the officers, saying "I don't give dap to police officers."

The teams returned to the church after their walks, and most reported that they had spoken with at least 50 people.

Most of the officers who were introduced to residents by clergy have been walking beats in the neighborhood for about a month.

Officer Paul Quinn said, "There were these kids, they were probably 13 and 14, and you should have seen the smiles on their faces when they realized that we were just there to shake their hands and introduce ourselves. It was probably the first time that has ever happened to them."

There have been 17 homicides in Boston so far this year.