In a move to increase the number of crimes reported in Boston, the city’s 911 system will be able to receive and respond to text messages, pictures messages and videos sent from cell phones if a city councilor’s proposal passes.
Rob Consalvo (Hyde Park, Roslindale) said the city should take advantage of widespread cell-phone technology. Consalvo said it would be a subtle way of informing police, which would encourage people to report more crimes.
“Folks who are otherwise reluctant to give information [could] report a crime,” he said.
Noting the quality of cameras in some cell phones, Consalvo suggested the city should actively experiment with technology improvements. Chicago is also considering a similar program that would incorporate cell-phone technology to report crime, Consalvo said.
Councilor John Tobin (Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury) said the use of cell-phone technology may not convince more people to report crime because the 911 system will still have records of cell phone numbers and names.
“Does [the 911 system] know who this is coming from?” he asked. “Can they subpoena the person who took the picture?”
The order was referred to the Committee on Public Safety for a later hearing.
Referring to a previous debate that would require mandatory background checks for nightclub bouncers, Councilor-at-Large Michael Flaherty proposed instituting a “three strikes rule,” which would require bars and clubs with three incidents of employee-initiated violence to undergo third-party training.
“Bar owners want people to come to their establishment, spend their hard-earned dollars, have a good time and leave safely,” Flaherty said. “This allows the employers to know the information ahead of time.”
The council debate began almost a year ago, when a Mission Hill resident was murdered by a bouncer – who was later discovered to have a lengthy criminal record – at a New York City Club.
One day after Gov. Deval Patrick trumpeted the boosted aid to cities and towns in his 2008 fiscal year budget proposal, the council said his proposed budget does not provide enough funds to address issues affecting the city, highlighting public schools and healthcare. Patrick’s proposal calls for $312 million to go to local aid, up 5 percent from last year’s budget.
Former City Councilor Larry DiCara, now an adviser to the Council, said the city should not rely on much financial support from the governor.
“[Patrick] thought he could come in, put on some magic dust, and there’d be all this money,” he said. “There isn’t.”
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