How Boston became the safest big city in America

I n the basement of Charles Street ame, a church in Roxbury, a historically black neighbourhood in Boston, Haseeb Hosein, the captain of the local police district, delivers the good news. “We’ve had no homicides in B2, year to date,” he says. “Keep on praying,” he says, to a chorus of “amens.” “I can tell you, the district is going really well when we’re focusing on barbershop music, when we’re focusing on cars blasting music,” he says. “Music is my biggest community concern and I am a happy camper.” It is not just B2. Across the whole city of Boston, by the first of September, there had been just 13 homicides. That is a 50% reduction on the same point last year—an already record low year. Beantown is on track to become the safest big city in America this year. Though nationwide figures do not yet exist, according to ah Datalytics, which collects real-time crime data from 277 American cities, the number of murders recorded so far this year is down by 18% on the same period last year. S

I n the basement of Charles Street ame, a church in Roxbury, a historically black neighbourhood in Boston, Haseeb Hosein, the captain of the local police district, delivers the good news. “We’ve had no homicides in B2, year to date,” he says. “Keep on praying,” he says, to a chorus of “amens.” “I can tell you, the district is going really well when we’re focusing on barbershop music, when we’re focusing on cars blasting music,” he says. “Music is my biggest community concern and I am a happy camper.” It is not just B2. Across the whole city of Boston, by the first of September, there had been