Campbell pushes safety, constituent services in report

Six months into her first term, District 4 city councillor Andrea Campbell has upheld one of her campaign promises by releasing a report on her office’s progress. Along with noting efforts to assess public safety at a time of increased tension between national police forces and communities of color, the eight-page document also touches on issues of accessibility and resources throughout District 4.

Campbell chairs the City Council’s Committee on Public Safety and Criminal Justice, previously known as simply the committee on public safety, modified “to now include criminal justice as a critical component of improving public safety in the City of Boston.” Her district has seen a number of shootings and homicides during her tenure so far, including the killing of 17-year-old Raekwon Brown near the Jeremiah E. Burke High School in early June.

“District 4 is a community disproportionately affected by crime and incarceration,” Campbell said in the report, “and I know there is work we can do as a City to keep our residents, especially our young people, safe and out of prison.”

Opportunities for youths and an emphasis on re-entry programs mark Campbell’s approach to her committee work. “Youth development programs are key to keeping young residents out of the criminal justice system,” she said.

Campbell says she is coordinating with City Councillor at-Large Ayanna Pressley, who has championed increased trauma support throughout the city, to convene a convening a public safety working group in July. Coming out of the working group would be “a written, comprehensive, and coordinated response plan to all acts of violence,” the report said. “The hope is that this plan will specifically define the role of each department in responding to acts of neighborhood violence.” Campbell’s six-month report, available in full on her website campbellforbostond4.com, addressed the office’s efforts to increase investment in the district.