Witness protection bill gets push

Despite lobbying from law enforcement leaders, House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi offered no promise yesterday that action would be taken on a measure designed to crack down on intimidation of witnesses.

Police and prosecutors, struggling in their efforts to get witnesses to help them solve murders, have been pushing for a measure that would toughen laws against intimidation of witnesses, restrict defendants' access to victims and witnesses, and establish a statewide witness protection program, among its provisions.

The state Senate has approved the bill, but the House has yet to vote on it.

At a press conference yesterday at Blue Hill Club, a Boys and Girls Club in Dorchester, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley pushed for passage of the bill.

Conley thanked state leaders in attendance for approval of an $11 million antiviolence program, but said that tougher laws are needed.

''While these funds are most welcome, I must also remind everybody that the response to the increase in gun and gang-related violence and the continued prevalence of fear and intimidation in our cities requires more than this program," Conley said.

''People who function with fear and violence don't hear and don't want to hear the message of peace and prevention," he said. ''They need to be taken off the streets."

The state Senate unanimously passed the witness bill in October. Boston police say they are having a hard time solving homicide cases and have their lowest clearance rate in a decade, in part because witnesses are too intimidated to cooperate with police.

DiMasi, said after the press conference that other issues, such as healthcare legislation, have taken priority in the House and that no vote is scheduled on the witness intimidation measure. He also suggested that the measure would be redundant.

''There are tools available for them now," DiMasi said. ''Witness protection is more of a resource than anything else."

The two measures were originally paired in a bill sponsored by Senator Jarrett T. Barrios. But this week the Legislature separated the grant funding and approved it as part of a $53 million supplemental budget.

DiMasi suggested yesterday that the inroads made in communities to avert potential gang activities would pay dividends.

''We feel that this is the key element of the legislation that needed to be addressed immediately, and the Legislature responded promptly," DiMasi said.

The Boston Miracle of the mid-to-late-1990s brought a sharp drop in crime by putting more police on the streets, cracking down on gun crimes, and creating a web of cooperative programs between community leaders, clergy, and law enforcement.

Now, with this city's murder rate at a 10-year high, religious and political leaders are brainstorming over how to combat the resurgence in violence. This quadruple slayings in Dorchester this week have also alarmed leaders.

The $11 million in grant funding will be available in June to regional gang task forces and other partnerships between law enforcement and communities. The applicants would have to match some funding and demonstrate a regional approach to win the funds.

The money would be used to help prevent young people from getting involved with gangs.

''This is the real carrot in this process; we need to hold it out to let people know there is hope," said the Rev. Ray Hammond, pastor of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church and chairman of the Boston TenPoint Coalition, the anticrime group that helped reduce crime in the past decade.

Over the next two weeks, Hammond said, he would be organizing churches and community groups to visit the 10 streets with the most criminal activity.

''We want those neighbors to know they do not have to hunker down behind their doors," he said.

The press conference at the Blue Hill Club was a show of force from the city's political and law enforcement leaders. Surrounded by two district attorneys, two mayors, two state senators, and at least seven House members, Mayor Thomas M. Menino said that the grant was a measure of the cooperative effort that was needed to combat the growing problem.

''When government works together, it works best," he said.