31 arrested in police sweep
Efforts to stem violence stepped up
Dozens of Boston police officers working overtime shifts swept through the city in search of suspects wanted on charges involving violence and guns, netting 31 arrests by yesterday afternoon, including a 15-year-old who fired at a group of people standing at a Dorchester bus stop.
Police Commissioner Kathleen M. O'Toole said the sweeps, launched Friday night, will continue through tonight and will be intermittently used by police in the coming months to help stem a wave of violence.
She also said the department plans three localized sweeps resembling the effort in Grove Hall last weekend that resulted in 43 arrests. O'Toole declined to say which neighborhoods would be targeted, for security reasons.
''Obviously, now it's an appropriate time for a stronger dose of enforcement," O'Toole said in an interview.
In one example of the results, two patrol officers were returning to the district station at about 8 p.m. Friday after arresting a suspect on a drug warrant when they spotted a 15-year-old wearing a black mask who was standing in the middle of the street shooting at a bus stop at the corner of Blue Hill Avenue and Westview Street in Dorchester. A group of people at the bus stop ran for cover, police said.
''As he was firing he was moving across in front of our cruiser to the right," said Lucas Taxter, a nine-year veteran, who made the arrest with Matthew Morris, who joined the force seven months ago. ''My partner and I got out of the cruiser and began moving towards him. . . .He still had the firearm in his hand."
The officers, who were made available for interviews by the department, got out of their car and walked toward the teenager, who dropped his weapon and was arrested, police said. He is being charged as a juvenile with assault with intent to murder and several other offenses.
Police said officers found two bullet holes in the glass enclosure and that the loaded .38-caliber revolver was traced to Alabama, where it was reported stolen in 1988.
''We got one more gun off the street and one more 15-year-old out of harm's way," O'Toole said.
She said police are hoping the sweeps lead them to more weapons. Gun seizures were already up by 34 percent through mid-November, and the number of shootings are up 34 percent over this time last year, according to police figures.
''We've asked the captains to prioritize the most serious warrants, the ones involving firearms, drugs, and aggravated assaults," O'Toole said.
Early yesterday morning, officers went to Ruthven Street in Roxbury in search of Jerry Washington, who was wanted on an arrest warrant from September 2002, when he was charged with armed assault with intent to murder and assault and battery with a deadly weapon.
He was found in a closet and arrested, police said.
The sweeps are one of the more visible parts of a more aggressive crime-fighting strategy announced after a meeting of top law enforcement officials called Thursday by Mayor Thomas M. Menino after Boston recorded its 66th homicide, equaling the highest annual total in the last 10 years, and after the occupants of two vans exchanged gunfire outside a Dorchester elementary school.
Yesterday morning, Menino huddled at City Hall with several aides, members of the clergy, and O'Toole.
After the two-hour meeting, he announced a four-pronged plan for the coming days. The mayor said it is critical to get illegal weapons and the criminals who use them off the street more quickly.
Menino also said members of the clergy will work with Boston police to locate the 10 ''worst" streets in the city, with the goal to find ''impact players to work with them before we have incidents in those neighborhoods."
On Tuesday, Menino said, ministers from churches across the city will meet to formulate a long-range plan.
Menino said he is also determined to root out what he called the culture of indifference and intimidation, in part by discouraging the sale of ''Stop Snitching" T-shirts.
''Teams of clergy will visit the vendors who are selling those shirts," Menino said. ''We will have a private-sector campaign trying alternative language to 'Stop Snitching.' "
Late yesterday, Menino arrived at Antonio Ansaldi, a clothing store on Washington Street in Dorchester, which has been one of the primary vendors of the shirts, to accept a pledge from its owner to stop selling them.
The Rev. William E. Dickerson, a pastor at Dorchester's Greater Love Tabernacle and one of the ministers who asked the store owner to stop selling them, said he hopes other vendors follow the lead of Antonio Ennis, a co-owner of Antonio Ansaldi Inc.
Suzanne Smalley can be reached at ssmalley@globe.com 