Clergy to introduce officers personally

Boston-area clergy members will fan out next Saturday to neighborhoods hardest hit by the recent wave of violence in the city, knocking on doors to introduce residents to police officers who are patrolling the neighborhoods.

The initiative, unprecendented in its scope, will involve about 50 ministers and an equal number of police, who will pair up and go door to door. Each clergy member will introduce the officer to as many people as possible that day in the area, which the officers began patrolling last month. The aim is to break down the barrier between law enforcement and residents, which police and community leaders believe thwarts many efforts to stem violence.

Introducing police to residents is part of a larger initiative that includes clergy and other community activists mediating between gangs and visiting the homes of young people considered at risk of becoming involved in violence to try to persuade them to avoid gangs. Clergy members will also conduct regular walks through areas of Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury, where most of this year's 16 homicides occurred, to listen to the concerns of shop owners and residents and encourage them to inform police about criminal activity.

"The main thing is to try to build relationships and bridge gaps between the people who live in those areas, the police, and the clergy," said the Rev. Jeffrey Brown of the Boston Ministerial Alliance, which has organized the initiative. "We will continue until every door is knocked."

Underpinning the alliance's strategy is the idea that residents in these neighborhoods trust clergy members more than police, and may be more willing to talk to law enforcement officials in the future if ministers have paved the way. The ministers and police have yet to work out how often they will team up after their introductions with residents next Saturday.

"I don't remember our doing this kind of work at this scale before, and I think it underscores the importance of the pastors, that they are trusted," Brown said. "It's a way in which we can begin the process of turning around the perception of police in the community."

Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis III, who spoke at a police-sponsored event yesterday at Franklin Field aimed at discouraging residents from storing illegal weapons, agreed with Brown.

"I realize that the police carry certain baggage, and by them going into those communities with clergy members, it's certainly a way in for us," he said.

"There is no question that more and more people are galvanizing because of the problems with violence in their neighborhoods, and now we have the opportunity to utilize that good will and work together."

The alliance plan, the latest in a long history of efforts by clergy members to help law enforcement officials curb violence in the city. was developed during a meeting Monday between alliance members, police commanders, and Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

On Saturday, each clergy member will be paired with a police officer to go door-to-door in the neighborhoods of Franklin Field, Egleston Square, Bowdoin-Geneva, and Grove Hall.

The plan was hailed by several residents of areas where fatal shootings have recently occurred.

"Oh, I think the police will be able to get more doors opened that way," said Gwendolyn Morgan, 52, who lives on Fowler Street, less than a block from where James L. Jacobs was shot and killed on March 30. "Maybe everything will change."

Eugene Scott, 34, lives in Grove Hall near the intersection of Columbia Road and Washington Street, where Dwayne Graham, 18, was fatally shot aboard an MBTA bus on the same day Jacobs was killed.

"It takes all these murders for something to happen, but hopefully the police will stay here more than just a couple of weeks this time," Scott said. "Something needs to be done, because the criminals are taking over."

Trying to mediate disputes among gangs is also a main focus of the plan. Brown said there are about 40 major gangs in the city, of which about 20 appear on the brink of violence with another gang.

He declined to name the gangs or the neighborhoods they are associated with.

In addition, said the Rev. Ray Hammond, pastor of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Jamaica Plain, clergy members will try to talk to families with young people "who are on the cusp of gang involvement."

The ministers will provide information about after-school programs and other services that give young people alternatives to gang membership; they will try to persuade youths to turn in any weapons; they will give the parents a list of emergency police numbers they can call.

"We want to help parents who don't quite know what to do," Hammond said.

He said much of the violence that the city is experiencing is gang-related, but it has more to do with "personal disagreements," he said, than drugs or turf wars.

"It could be because of perceived disrespect or over a girlfriend," said Hammond, who works closely with the Boston police unit that focuses on gangs. "If you look at the spark that ignites the fire, usually it's over these things."

The alliance is also calling on clergy members to ask parishioners during Easter sermons tomorrow to volunteer for community outreach programs.