Recent incidents in Boston echo Democrat's tendencies to be obtuse, if not soft, on crime

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“We have to be very tough on that,” said former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis recently about the pop up scooter mobs taking over streets and highways and terrorizing bystanders. “I hearken back to the days when that would not have been accepted.”

Davis is not alone in his nostalgia.

The “Make America Great Again” movement is overflowing with gratuitous trolling, bigotry and misuse of police power, but its impulse to aggressively deter and punish disorder and violence is politically potent. In a September Washington Post/Ipsos poll, the percent of Americans who said they trusted Democrats to do a better job dealing with crime than the Republicans has slipped to a 35-year low.

The local proliferation of frightening street takeovers and demonstrations featuring attacks on police puts pressure on Democratic leaders to show they get it.

Gov. Maura Healey seemed to last week when she warned the street punks to “end this trend. Zero tolerance for this in the Commonwealth. Not gonna happen here. And if you do it, you're going to be punished.”

Whether or not that translates into political credibility on the issue will depend in part on how she handles a complaint heard consistently from police, including Davis, hardly a MAGA mouthpiece. The courts “have to get serious,” Davis says. “You need to have really strong judges that understand what those individuals are doing to the rest of the community.”

At least Healey offers a contrast with Mayor Michelle Wu, who is prone – as incumbents often are - to irritation and denial when the issue is raised. “Sometimes what you read in the Globe or other outlets picks at different things that are happening,” Wu said recently. “We want to get better every single day, but last year, Boston had the safest year ever on record.”

Technically true, perhaps; politically foolish (at least for pols who aren’t mayors-for-life), absolutely.

This is of a piece with the way Democrats over the years have handled the toxic issue of undocumented immigrant crime, another rare occurrence that resonates far beyond its statistics.

Consider the case of Nicholas Guaman, the Ecuadorean immigrant here illegally who was driving drunk in 2011 when he struck motorcyclist Matthew Denice of Milford, dragging the 23-year-old to his death for a quarter-mile as onlookers screamed at him to stop. It was an especially vile crime, compounded by Guaman’s prior criminal record and the clueless reaction of then-Governor Deval Patrick.

Even though the federal Secure Communities program might have caught and deported Guaman before he slaughtered Denice, Patrick reiterated his opposition to cooperating with the feds and insisted that “illegal immigration didn’t kill this person. A drunk driver killed this person.”

Irritation and denial. It didn’t go unnoticed that Patrick couldn’t manage to mention the victim’s name, which had been all over the news. No wonder his grieving mother, Maureen Maloney, would end up campaigning for Donald Trump as one of his “Angel Parents” of children slain by immigrants here illegally.

Cracking down on reckless and violent crimes that traumatize the public should be a no-brainer for even the most liberal pol. And the promise to do so should precede any tap dance about how fear of crime is overblown.

“We need sober, intelligent people that are paying attention to these problems,” says Davis of the judiciary.

That goes for political leaders too.

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HAPPENING TODAY

10:00 AM | The POST Commission holds a pre-conference hearing in the matter of Imari Soares, the New Bedford cop who allegedly acted as an accessory after the fact to a domestic violence incident involving a man she was dating. | Zoom

1:00 PM | The Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight holds a public hearing on about 40 bills, including a Sen. Bruce Tarr proposal directing the Inspector General to launch a special unit to provide oversight of the state's emergency assistance family shelter system. | Livestream

1:30 PM | Gov. Maura Healey hosts a media availability on actions to address energy costs with Secretary Rebecca Tepper | Governor’s Reception Office (State House)

3:30 PM | Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Susan Collins is the featured speaker at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce event | Register

5:30 PM | Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters headlines a fundraiser with the Mass. GOP. A press release for the event calls Gruters "Trump's right-hand man" and says, "Our Grassroots Army has been working so hard that Trump's people have noticed. Chairman Joe Gruters is coming to Massachusetts to hear all about our big plans heading into 2026 and help raise the support we need to win it all." The event is co-hosted by Tom Hodgson and others. | Dedham American Legion

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NEWS NEXT DOOR

ICE ARRESTS TEEN AT EVERETT POLICE STATION: A 13-year-old immigrant ended up in a detention center more than 500 miles away in Virginia after being detained by a school resource officer. Federal authorities say the boy posed a public safety threat with an extensive record. Everett police have provided anonymous press comments, while the boy’s lawyer contends his constitutional rights are being violated. — Boston Globe

STUCK LIKE SERVICE PLAZA REDEVELOPMENT: Two MassDOT-owned parcels in Boston that could host thousands of housing units and generate hundreds of millions of dollars in lease payments sit undeveloped, while officials await signs of progress from their hand-picked developer. — Banker & Tradesman

HIGHWAY HORROR: A married couple from Middletown, Rhode Island died in a small plane crash on I-195 in Dartmouth on Monday morning. — WCVB

EYE IN THE SKY: A real estate company plans to install AI-powered license plate readers around its Brookline property and share the data with police. In other communities, ICE has reportedly accessed data from the vendor’s cameras via “side door” access through local law enforcement. — Brookline.News

NOTING NEEDLES: The Somerville City Council has asked staff to share data on the number of hypodermic needles they've collected and to explore strategies for storing personal belongings abandoned by people experiencing homelessness. — Cambridge Day

COME SAIL AWAY: An underwater robot departed from Woods Hole on Friday and is expected to return in 2030 if it can successfully travel the globe. — WBUR

WINDING UP: Vineyard Wind is currently generating about 400 megawatts of power, representing nearly half of the project's potential. — New Bedford Light

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Alison Kuznitz and the MASSterList team contributed to this edition.

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