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Popular Theater District among 4 Boston areas to see increase in crime

BOSTON -- It's home to shows, clubs, and popular bars, but Boston 25 News found that Boston's Theater District has seen an increase in crime over the last year.

“The time it took for my sibling to walk across the street and for someone to come out of a dark place to kill him was a few seconds," said community organizer Elizabeth Miranda.

Miranda's brother Michael was  killed in a shooting outside the Cure nightclub in August. He was one of two people killed in the area in the past year.

Boston 25 News requested the crime stats for the area from the Boston Regional Intelligence Center and found the theater district, known to Boston police as district "A-1", is one of just four districts that saw a rise in the total crime last year. The nine other districts including Roxbury, Mattapan and Dorchester saw a significant decrease.

Former Boston police Superintendent-in-Chief Daniel Linskey told Boston 25 News it's a tough area to police; especially at closing time.

"You have a density of bars down by the entertainment district at Tremont and Washington Street and those officers are running from call to call," Linskey said.

Boston 25 News has been following violence in the Theater District for years. In 2011, rising hip-hop star Roc Ducati was gunned down outside of Underbar in front of hundreds of witnesses, and four people were shot outside of the Club Venu that same year. In 2012, an army veteran was killed near a club on Tremont Street, and a deadly shooting near the club Cure launched the double murder trial of Aaron Hernandez. In 2016, seven people were stabbed in a melee outside Royale and Cure.

Linskey said those clubs don't always cooperate with investigators.

“They weren't reporting assaults," he said. "You know egregious activity in some cases and they'll go over to the licensing board and get a day suspension."

Boston 25 News requested copies of the violations for four popular Theater District bars from 2010 to the present, but the state only came up with a handful of cases for that time period. Nick's Comedy was charged with six counts of serving underaged patrons in October 2015, and received an eight day suspension. Another year, Royale, owned by Boston Ballroom, paid fines of more than $60,000 for overserving patrons. But the club made  $3.5 million of off alcohol sales alone that year.

Elizabeth Miranda told Boston 25 News she used to be a club promoter and knows how they work.

"There's a financial stake here for most of these establishments that they don't close at 1 a.m., because 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. is probably one of their busiest time," she said. "We have to have the same type of stake, the same type of lever around safety as we do with financial gains."

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh’s office told Boston 25 News violations for area bars are down 39 percent, but admits crime has gone up roughly 2 percent.

"I think working with the facilities downtown there, that they need to work to make sure that they can bring on some police officers themselves to make sure they clear out the area," Mayor Walsh said. "Certainly, we want people to come out in Boston."

In a letter dated Oct. 6, 2017, the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs notified Boston's Licensing Board that they are asking venues with a capacity of 1,000 or more for "updated security plans," citing "recent events."

Massachusetts State Treasurer Deb Goldberg has pushed for what she called a “post-prohibition” law, with fixes to address clubs that habitually violate liquor laws and other problems. The Alcohol Task Force was seated and debate continues with fierce opposition from the business community.

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