When Seconds Count...

Joined
May 19, 2005
Messages
2,145
Likes
160
Location
Brentwood, NH
Feedback: 1 / 0 / 0
...the police are already there???

BOSTON (WBZ) ― A party cruise ends in violence leaving one man dead.

State Police say the 41-year-old victim was on board the Provincetown II boat that came back from a cruise around midnight Thursday night. There were 815 people on board the boat.

The victim was in a parking lot between Anthony's Pier 4 Restaurant and the Institute of Contemporary Art, when he was gunned down.

State Police Sgt. John Gentile tells WBZ TV three to four shots were fired. He says they already had six cruisers at the pier for traffic and crowd control when the boat came in. Despite closing off the area quickly, the gunman managed to escape.

No additional commentary required.
 
They were there for TRAFFIC control.... if they were there for CRIME control, maybe they could have done something.
 
They're not there for traffic control. They are there because people coming off of those boats are often drunk and fights break out. Unlike Doobie, I've responded to that exact location when the boats come in and I actually know why the MSP sends that many cruisers. I don't have to make shit up, since I have the facts.

Even without a shooting, the docks and streets around them are chaotic when the boats come in. You can't move in the crowd, which is usually several hundred as more than one boat docks at about the same time. Six troopers, even if one has a dog, aren't enough if there is any thing serious going on. A shooting or even a fight is going to ramp that up.

Some crowds are more unruly than others, so it would be interesting to know who rented the boat and who made up the passenger list.

Given the location and time of this shooting, it's very unlikely that this was random. It's also not known if the guy was on the boat or not although it's likely.
 
They were there for TRAFFIC control.... if they were there for CRIME control, maybe they could have done something.

But, whenever the topic of eliminating mandatory police details comes up, all the police union mouthpieces are quick to trumpet the old talking point that details are great, because they increase police presence in the community and are available to perform real police work in emergency situations.

You can't have it both ways.
 
I have come off one of those boats before and I can tell you it would be very easy for this shooter to disappear into the crowd. Especially a panicked crowd that just heard gunshots and is fleeing for their lives.

We all complain about a "Police state" and how we don't want the cops involved in everything. Would we really want 100 cops in riot gear detaining all 815 people in that parking lot and checking them for guns. I bet the cops tried to find the guy but realized that 6 of them were not going to be able to detain all those people for questioning (even if it weren't illegal for them to do so). These cops aren't superhuman and the guy with the gun probably just reholstered or pocketed it and melted back into the crowd.
 
But, whenever the topic of eliminating mandatory police details comes up, all the police union mouthpieces are quick to trumpet the old talking point that details are great, because they increase police presence in the community and are available to perform real police work in emergency situations.

You can't have it both ways.

I guess I forgot the intertubes delete the hint of sarcasm. As a Marlborough, MA police offer said yesterday.... "Police should only be issued nerf guns and batons." I fully support this idea and believe that would be best. As long as other citizens took up their responsibility of protecting themselves.
 
I have come off one of those boats before and I can tell you it would be very easy for this shooter to disappear into the crowd. Especially a panicked crowd that just heard gunshots and is fleeing for their lives.

I drove by there a while ago to refresh my memory of the layout. The ICA/Pier 4 lot is a good distance from where the troopers usually are stationed. I doubt that they heard the shots if the crowd was typically noisy.

From that lot, if the bad guys took a right they'd be on Northern Ave and then across the Moakley Bridge in less than a minute. That's if they were in cars. If they were running it would be a bit more. If they were eco friendly and used bikes it would be about three minutes and they could use the old Northern Avenue Bridge.

Just because the troopers didn't make an arrest this time, doesn't mean that they never do. I know of several cases where they have.

Also, be careful what you ask for if "not making arrests" is your issue. CT uses a similar detail system, despite what the media says, for troopers. The difference is that they run radar and make stops while they are on detail. In MA, that would mean that the state and towns would make more money.

Remember also in MA under the Prevailing Wage Law, flagmen would have to paid laborer's wages, which are way more than the $10.00/hour figure the media talks about.
 
Ummm....do you think that maybe at least a couple of the Troopers went to the victim to render aid??

That would have been their first priority.

Leaving even less to attempt to locate a suspect.[rolleyes]
 
The other reason there were probably so many police was because it was a booze cruise to help kickoff the Carribean festival. There have been a lot of incidents surrounding that festival over the years, including shootings and stabbings.
 
Back
Top Bottom