Pressure is mounting to clean up the open-air drug market that is the area surrounding the Boston intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, with lawmakers demanding that police sweep the area.
“Current policies have allowed an open-air market for drugs and human trafficking to take root in the area. As a result, local residents and neighbors have been advised to avoid the area whenever possible because of the lawlessness now prevalent in the area,” a letter addressed to Massachusetts State Police Col. Jon Mawn Jr. and Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox states.
“In light of the ongoing and escalating threat to neighboring residents and families, especially in nearby parks and areas for youth summer camp activities, we are requesting that warrant enforcement be conducted in area C-6, specifically targeting those individuals with a history of violence, drug and human trafficking,” the letter continues.
The letter is signed by U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, state Sen. Nick Collins, state Rep. David Biele, City Council President Ed Flynn and city councilors Frank Baker, Erin Murphy and Michael Flaherty.
The letter comes following the state Department of Public Health issuing a report that an average of 50 people overdose per week in the city this year.
A separate letter to the police leaders was issued within the last hour by the newly elected state representative for the area that includes Mass and Cass, Rep. John Moran, which also calls for “a warrant sweep … specifically targeting those individuals with a history of violence, sexual assault, drug distribution and human trafficking” and to “eliminate and enforce the banning of the existence of tents, lean-tos, and any other unpermitted structure, temporary or permanent, in the area.”
Moran states that he has spent his “first few months in office” working to learn the area and has found “a lot of people ding the very best that they can to combat this mental health and addiction crises.”
“However, what is also clear is that all these efforts are increasingly challenged by an open-air drug market that is being propelled by a sophisticated criminal network in the area. I am especially concerned that our most vulnerable are being subjected to physical and sexual violence and that human trafficking is being carried out on Atkinson Street,” the letter continues.
Collins told the Herald that “We can no longer sit by and watch as part of our City and Commonwealth descends into a disgraceful vortex of drugs, huiman trafficking, txic aste and violence.
“Law enforcement needs to be supported so they can intervene appropriately. We have the treatment options for those living at Mass and Cass. We just need the will to change course from a strictly harm reduction and containment policy that is clearly failing. This is a public health and safety emergency so it requires a public health and safety response. We need to take bold, innovative and immediate steps to stop this cycle of misery that has been permitted to fester for far too long.”
This is a developing story.