BOSTON (WHDH) - Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox addressed a recent spike in street violence as he sat down with 7NEWS’s Dan Hausle to discuss his first three months at the helm of the Boston Police Department.
Cox stressed that the department will need the support of the communities where the violence is occurring to curb crime and prevent shootings.
“We need to work together to positively take ownership of our neighborhoods and our issues and problems,” Cox said. “Have police ever solved the issue of violence in the United States? No. We can’t arrest our way out of it.”
And though the first few months of his time as the city’s top cop have been marked by violence in the neighborhoods he grew up in, Cox said crime data shows violent crime is on the decline and it’s not as bad as it seems — certainly not as bad as it was several decades ago.
“Let’s not fear monger. Let’s not do that to people,” he said. “Either they didn’t live through it or their memories are very short. Or they weren’t there.”
Cox also said he hopes community members seeing him in charge of the Boston Police Department will recognize that he’s looking to make real change — and hearing from them is what motivates him to keep fighting crime.
“I get reinvigorated when I hear the hope and dreams that they have just by seeing me in this position and the hopes they have for the city,” he said. “I get almost teary eyed every time I hear one of those conversations and it makes me want to roll up my sleeves and try even harder to make sure we achieve those goals.”
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