Boston's police commissioner is crediting cooperation from the public, the support of the mayor, and collaborations with public health officials and the private sector for a 20-year low in the city's homicide rate.
Commissioner William Gross praised "people coming forward to identify where guns are coming from," in limiting homicides to 37 in 2019, The Boston Globe reported Thursday.
Gross said last week that his officers took more than 700 guns off the street in 2019.
The level of neighborhood cooperation is higher than he's ever seen in his 36-year law enforcement career, he said.
"I think we are building relationships and trust," said Gross.
Initially, police said there were 38 homicides in Boston in 2019, compared to 56 in 2018. But one death in 2019 has been removed from the department's homicide tally after it was ruled as justified, police said.
Police have solved 17 of last year's 37 homicide cases, and in addition solved seven homicides in 2019 committed in prior years.
