Farther down, near Eunice Street, a woman recalls when officers patrolled the neighborhood on horses. Now, they use bicycles.
Outside Walgreens, where Bowdoin meets Geneva, Alex Bennett’s father tells the officers his son, who just turned 10, was looking for wrestling action figures. “He started youth watch on our street last year by himself,’’ Alex’s father says, beaming as his son exchanges a high five with O’Sullivan.
This, police brass say, is exactly the point of bike patrols - to make police officers more visible, and more human. That personal connection is a key element in the department’s strategy to stem violence along the corridor, which has endured at least seven homicides within a 2-mile radius this year, the most recent Sept. 25, when two teenage boys were shot, one fatally, while making a quick trip to the corner store.
Surveillance cameras will be mounted, patrols increased, and collaborations strengthened with neighborhood watch groups. And undercover investigations will be launched, the most recent of which netted 14 men wanted on drug charges.
Boston’s police department has Safe Street Teams patrolling hot spots in 14 neighborhoods. In the neighborhood defined by Bowdoin and Geneva, eight officers ride bikes from 4 p.m. until about midnight.
To expand coverage, the department enlists probationary officers to fill the void when a member of the team is away, said Deputy Superintendent Randall Halstead.
The bikes, Halstead said, are an extension of officers walking a beat and getting to know residents.
“It’s more effective,’’ Halstead said, less than a block from a sidewalk memorial that marks where Jaivon Blake, 16, was shot dead Sept. 25 “What it all boils down to is having them talk to us, because we’re only as effective as we can be when people talk to us.’’
Blake’s 14-year-old friend is recovering from his gunshot wounds and expected to survive, a police spokeswoman said. No arrests have been made in the case.
On this day, Flaherty and O’Sullivan, both June graduates of the police academy, trade in their patrol cars for bikes, complete with lights and sirens, halfway through their 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. shift.
