Concerns about violence at this weekend’s Boston Caribbean Carnival celebration, associated with a mass shooting last year, are rising in the wake of the “senseless” violence that took place at a different festival held in Franklin Park on Sunday.
Boston police union officials are sounding the alarm on low staffing levels, saying that although the department will deploy an all hands on deck approach at Saturday’s festival and parades, there aren’t enough available officers to appropriately cover regular citywide patrols and concurrent large-scale events.
An understaffed and overstretched police force makes it difficult to ensure public and officer safety and avert the type of violence that occurred this past Sunday, when five people were shot at the end of the Dominican Festival, Larry Calderone, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, the city’s largest police union, told the Herald.
“It was just a matter of time,” Calderone said of Sunday’s incident. “We don’t have enough police officers to staff the regular shifts daily, never mind these large-scale events.”
He described this past weekend’s violence as a “perfect example” of the department being understaffed, adding that if there was enough of a “uniformed presence” in the city and particularly at large-scale public events, “these types of things could be averted.”
“The union has taken a position that it is absolutely ludicrous that we would jeopardize the safety of the patrol officers on the street and the people we serve,” Calderone said.
Boston Police spokesman Sgt. Detective John Boyle said the department is investigating Sunday night’s shooting and that no arrests have been made. The injuries of the five victims, three male and two female, are considered to be non-life-threatening.
With the community still reeling from a mass shooting that marred the end of the popular Dominican Festival, city officials and police are turning their focus toward this Saturday’s Caribbean Carnival, an event associated with violence in past years, including just last summer, when eight people were shot during a morning parade.
Police have a “heightened sense of alertness” every year heading into the Caribbean festival, which is known for “violence” and “gunplay,” according to a police source within the department who requested anonymity to speak openly about the matter.
This year, the city and police have worked with event organizers to make changes to the J’ouvert Parade route. Last year’s shooting occurred during that early-morning parade, one of two parades associated with the Caribbean Carnival celebration.
The route is moving down to Shattuck Hospital and will end before it goes to Blue Hill Avenue, which is around where the shooting occurred last year and violence occurred the year before, Boston Caribbean Festival President Shirley Shillingford told the Herald.
“We felt that it’s much safer,” Shillingford said of the route change. “There’s no homes there for people to hide out in and all this nonsense.”
While Shillingford said the J’ouvert Parade hasn’t historically been associated with violence, “it happened two years in a row and that’s too many.”
The mayor’s office said the city and event organizers debriefed after last year’s event, and “decided to change the location of J’ouvert for the best experience and for safety.”
“We are grateful to the organizers of the Carnival Festival for bringing such benefit to Boston’s community and economy,” Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement. “As with every major event in Boston, the city has been coordinating logistics and public safety plans with event organizers for months.
“There have been improvements planned for the staging and route for J’ouvert and the Carnival parade, and BPD will have a strong presence to support community members. Leading up to the celebration, they will be focusing on key areas as well as having a heightened effort to prevent and quickly address any minor interactions that in the past have led to other incidents.”
The mayor added, “Violence will never be tolerated, especially in spaces of community celebration.”
Citing Sunday’s mass shooting, City Councilor-at-Large Erin Murphy called for an “increased police presence” at the upcoming festival, “to help ensure the safety of all our neighbors.”
“We need to closely examine the existing laws, such as those regulating public drinking, and ensure that all our first responders are empowered to enforce these laws to reduce bad behavior,” Murphy said in a statement. “Anytime an event that is supposed to be family-friendly ends in such violence, it causes me great concern.”
Councilor Ed Flynn called this weekend’s shooting “senseless,” while echoing the police union in calling for more officers, saying that “hundreds” should be hired each year. He also said individuals found to be responsible for violent crime should be “prosecuted and held accountable with a mandatory state prison sentence.”
Councilor Enrique Pepén, who attended the festival and whose parents hail from the Dominican Republic, said he was “deeply saddened” by the shooting.
“This violence is unacceptable, and I am hurt and troubled for it to have occurred during a celebration meant to honor and unite our vibrant Dominican community,” Pepén said. “While the incident is concerning, it should not overshadow the festival’s important role in celebrating Dominican culture, heritage, and unity in the City of Boston.”
Event organizers Luis Matos and Ysolina Pepin, the respective president and PR coordinator of La Casa de la Cultura, went a step further, saying that “it is completely false that there were disturbances and injuries at our festival.”
“We clarify that if there had been any incidents, the police would have immediately suspended our celebration,” Matos and Pepin said in a statement. “We clarify that we were informed of some incidents, but they did not occur at the festival. Rather, they happened in another area or streets of the city. We regret these incidents, but as an organization, we disassociate ourselves from what happened.”
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