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Police to add extra officers in Chinatown during violent early morning 'witching hour' after the bars and clubs let out elsewhere

Ciccolo

Boston Police told Chinatown residents and business owners that they will soon be assigning six officers to Chinatown between 2 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. - two to keep guard over the Chinatown Gate and four on bicycles to patrol the neighborhood as bars in nearby areas let out and people pour into Chinatown for food.

In a Zoom meeting called by the Chinatown Neighborhood Council, BPD District A-1 Captain Robert Ciccolo said he was already working on plans to bolster security in the early morning in Chinatown when two men were beaten and shot on Beach Street around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday - the fourth early morning shooting incident in the neighborhood this year.

In addition to the extra officers, Ciccolo said he will try to have an officer monitor security cameras in Chinatown during what he called the "witching hour" and will use a video board at Tyler and Harrison to alert would be trouble makers that there are cameras all over keeping an eye on them. He added that he also plans to work with the licensing board to educate Chinatown restaurant owners about the necessity to cut people off when they've had enough to drink and to call police at the first sign of trouble - two of the incidents this year, he said, started as arguments inside restaurants that might have been quelled had participants seen police arriving.

Meanwhile, two men pulled from a rolled over, flaming minivan in Sullivan Square after the Sunday shootings were ordered held without bail until at least a dangerousness hearing on Friday for the shootings, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Bunton Mickey Ven, 23, of Lowell and Alexio Carmello Marquez, 24, of Beverly - initially listed as a Florida man - were charged with beating their two victims, then shooting them around 2:30 a.m. at Beach and Hudson streets, prosecutors charge.

Ciccolo said the fight grew out of a dispute between two groups of young men, one mainly from the Lowell area, the other from the Dorchester/Quincy area.

He said these are two common denominator in all the violent incidents this year - the suspects are young men who are not only not from Chinatown, they are often not even from Boston.

"They are coming to get something to eat after leaving bars," in nearby areas, he said.

Theresa Tsoi, co-president of the Chinatown Business Association, said Chinatown restaurants, still nowhere near their pre-pandemic business levels, are now losing even more business as news of the attacks spread. She said restaurant professionals from other parts of the city who would typically head to Chinatown after they close up for a bite to eat "are not coming to Chinatown anymore. not until they see Chinatown is safe."

Chinatown resident Susan Chu, however, said that people need to be careful not to give into hysteria. Chinatown on the whole remains safe, she said, and police have to go out of their way to assure restaurant owners they will not get in trouble if they call 911.

Other residents said that people who may not speak English well, or at all, would have trouble communicating with 911. One Edinboro Street property manager said that when some of her tenants have a problem that needs a police response, they call her, but that when she then calls 911, she's dismissed because she's not right at the scene.

City Council President Ed Flynn, whose district includes Chinatown, said the neighborhood simply needs more police - and that BPD needs more Chinese-speaking officers.

"We do desperately need more police presence in Chinatown," he said.

Ciccollo said he already has two Chinese-speaking officers assigned to Chinatown on the shift that ends at midnight and that BPD currently has a new officer who also speaks Chinese.

But he also asked residents for help. "This is not ever going to be something police can do alone," they need the "active participation" of residents and business owners, he said.

In addition to immediately adding more officers in the early morning, Ciccolo said that, in the long term, if residents are interested, BPD could look at extending its ShotSpotter system, which uses sensors to detect the sound of gunfire, to Chinatown.

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Comments

that’s how you should do it at least. on foot and on bikes, not sealed away in an suv. I’m not particularly a fan of over policing, but there are better ways to have beat cops on patrol. hope this doesn’t turn into a situation to harass anyone who “doesn’t look like they’re from boston”

shot spotter, however, is known to be an awful, inaccurate technology. disappointed in the growing reliance on it in cities.

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Chinatown resident Susan Chu, however, said that people need to be careful not to give into hysteria.

A Bostonian who hasn't lost their mind. I can't believe it.

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She isn't white so there's that..

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There's mounting evidence that Shotspotter systems are not effective in crime preention.
Link

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Or do they have a role in emergency response, too?

That is a separate data pile, but worth a look for public safety reasons.

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Response time is improved with shotspotter and that saves lives.

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quick notification of shootings is a significant help to responding officers. I don't understand how you can think it's a preventative tool, unless you are against any kind of surveillance and are being deliberately fatuous. It's basically a giant microphone that alerts police to the sound of a firearms discharge.

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(And far too many beers that evening)

I was walking back home to a barren Fort Point (back when the Dunkies on Summer St would close for the entire weekend) and snaked through Chinatown dodging between white hats and the dirty gutter.

About 50 yards in front of me I could see two clearly rowdy idiots who'd been just tossed from a late night eatery but by the looks of the crowd they had acquired, the entire KITCHEN had become involved.

What happened next was straight out of Kung-Fu Hustle.

Two young asian kids barely in their 20s came to the front and posed like a movie. The two idiots laughed and made a sloppy attempt to lunge at one of them.

IT. WAS. ON.

Kid 2, out of nowhere is flying in the air with a kick to the jaw of Drunk 1, as Drunk 2 gets rushed by the white coated cooks. Drunk one stumbles, dazed but not hurt, amd makes a valiant effort to regroup and attack again.

But the dude was out cold before hitting the ground.

I didnt even see where it came from but afterword there were only two kids quietly surveying their work, getting pats on the back and exaltations i couldnt understand.

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But the dude was out cold before hitting the ground.

Indeed. Unlike in the movies, if you take a kick to the jaw in real life, you're taking a nap.

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…. will the cops find time between shootouts to stop and ticket the people speeding, making illegal rights on red and running red lights? How about the endless lines of Uber Eats and delivery trucks blocking the bus lane on Washington? How about the drivers parked in crosswalks and bike lanes where the bollards have been mowed down or none exist? How about the all hours sounding of car horns, stereo systems and motorcycle revving?

Probably not. There seems to be a total indifference on the part of law enforcement to enforce any sort of traffic safety laws. Even though you are far more likely to be killed by a driver wielding a motor vehicle than someone wielding a gun. And then if you’re only injured in the crash attack or are suffering a bullet wound, you’ll die anyway waiting for the ambulance to get through blocked intersections.
Most of Chinatown should be car free. And the rest with raised crosswalks and other methods for forcing drivers to obey the laws.

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Because enforcement of traffic laws is much more important than preventing shootings.

Every problem is a nail to you, isn't it?

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No, I didn’t.

Try again.

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You made the issue of violence in Chinatown about traffic enforcement.

I mean, this could be a neurological thing for you, but you do seem to have a single track thought process.

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…. where death or injury resulting from driver negligence or aggression isn’t a violent crime.

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Driver negligence is quite different than someone stabbing or shooting someone. Interestingly, no one has noted an uptick in food delivery drivers trying to run people down in Chinatown recently.

Again, when one has a hammer, every problem is a nail.

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This is about increased police presence between 2 and 3:30 am. AM. Not during the times when Uber Easts and delivery trucks are blocking the bus lanes during the day. The busses aren't running between 2 and 3:30 AM.

Focus!

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“Meanwhile, two men pulled from a rolled over, flaming minivan in Sullivan Square after the Sunday shootings were ordered held without bail …”

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Your whole screed was about Chinatown. Don't move the goalposts.

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Maybe stop trying to police comments and do a little more critical thinking.

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You're an effing pinball. Wow.

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You just have to accept that in Lee's eyes, every problem is essentially a problem with drivers. In this incident, that they tried to kill someone in Chinatown isn't important. The important thing is that they crashed their car miles away and injured.. themselves.

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There has been an increase in the number of assaults and shootings around areas of public transit. There was even a racially motivated attack recently.

https://www.boston.com/news/crime/2022/04/19/five-teens-arrested-woman-a...

More police are definitely required for public safety.

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This is nothing new. The downtown/Chinatown area when clubs get out has always been rowdy & dangerous. And these clubs have always attracted the type of crowd that can have guns on them.

There should have already been extra police presence.

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