South End surge: Arrests spiked by 163% this summer amid Mass and Cass spillover: Boston Police

Arrests spiked this summer in the South End a staggering statistic from the Boston Police that reflects how the neighborhood continues to be a hot spot for the Mass and Cass drug territory spillover Boston Police made arrests from May to Aug in the South End this year compared to for that same time period in according to BPD statistics shared at an Aug Population CompStat summer overview meeting and summarized in a -page document obtained by the Herald The document provides a snapshot of the open-air drug use dealing and related crime and violence that South End residents say has worsened in latest months in their neighborhood classified as BPD s D district due to spillover from the troubled intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard The increase in arrests in the South End amounts to additional arrests during the majority of this year s warm-weather season when city leaders have explained drug activity crime and crowding tends to spike at and around Mass and Cass Despite the spike in police enforcement this year the document also reflects concerns that have been raised continually by South End residents and businesses that the Boston Police Department doesn t have the support to keep up with the amount of crime occurring in that hot-spot area Police fielded quality-of-life calls from the South End from May to Aug The majority of those calls were for residents intoxication disturbing the peace and noise per BPD statistics Intravenous drug use was communicated to police times during that time period Prostitution led to three calls BPD announced The highest concentration of calls for amenity in August were at Worcester Square Massachusetts Avenue East and West Springfield Street Harrison Avenue General Alley East Berkeley Street West Brookline Street Washington Street and Columbus Avenue Police statistics show violent crimes and property crimes occurred in the South End from May to Aug this year No homicides were shared but there were four rapes or attempted rapes and instances of aggravated assaults per BPD statistics Residential burglaries spiked in July with revealed compared to three in May two in August and none in June over that four-month period There were six commercial burglaries over that time BPD released Sixteen robberies took place from May to late August along with larcenies and instances of wagon theft per BPD stats South End residents and retailers stated at a City Council hearing last Friday that businesses in Boston are being battered by shoplifting to feed the addiction that festers daily at the Mass and Cass drug realm Randi Lathrop a neighborhood leader and business owner mentioned thieves are threatening store employees and customers with lethal needles or those that contain fentanyl which led to the closure of a CVS in the South End Goods get traded for drugs on the sidewalks around the greater Mass and Cass area South End resident Brian McCarter commented It helped fuel the drug emergency around here So it s not shoplifting in a vacuum It s often fueling drug addiction Related Articles Editorial Boston is a very safe city for shoplifters Boston businesses are being battered by shoplifting to feed Mass and Cass drug realm Boston confronts opioid epidemic by crowdsourcing a tradition change South End Lower Roxbury residents plan to launch Mass Cass PAC with questionnaire focused on safety drug use Editorial What ll it be Boston Help addicts or a soccer organization A week after the Locality CompStat meeting focused on South End crime the Wu administration issued a memo on Sept detailing the city s plans to flood the Mass and Cass area with multiple of the new police officers who graduated from the academy in August The additional police were deployed to the hot-spot areas of the South End Newmarket and Nubian Square with the aim to crack down on the crime and drug use that s spread like wildfire to other neighborhoods city personnel have revealed Our plan combines continuous enforcement with direct pathways to divert individuals into medicine and away from the area through voluntary services judicial diversion and compulsory screening the Sept city memo states Our efforts target the drug use drug dealing and congregation at the core of our residents safety and quality of life challenges Nancy Lane Boston HeraldA discarded needle litters the ground in the area of Mass and Cass Boston police have recorded a spike in arrests during the past summer according to latest crime records Nancy Lane Boston Herald File A member of the Newmarket Business Improvement District picks up needles and other debris as a woman sits on the sidewalk along Southampton Street last month Matt Stone Boston Herald File