Seal of the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office




STRENGTH IN NUMBERS ON HOMICIDE INVESTIGATIONS

The following piece, written by DA Conley, was published in The Boston Globe's Op-Ed Page on Wednesday, October 10.

Since my recent decision to designate State Police homicide detectives to investigate homicides that occur on the MBTA and other state-owned properties, such as Carson Beach, a great deal of misinformation found its way into the public discourse. In the interest of moving forward, it's important to correct those factual inaccuracies that might undermine confidence in the good work by prosecutors and police in Boston. My decision was made based upon the facts, the law, and the experience and insight I've gained during 15 years as a prosecutor.

Under Massachusetts law, it is the district attorney who directs and controls homicide investigations. There is good reason for this: Homicide is the most serious charge that the government can level against a citizen, it is the only crime for which the accused is not entitled to release on bail, and it is the only crime for which the potential punishment includes life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The district attorney must have confidence that the evidence will prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the ultimate crime.

Prosecutors don't conduct these investigations alone. In every city and town in the state, the state's district attorneys designate a police agency as their investigators for homicides. These designees are almost uniformly State Police homicide detectives; one of the few exceptions is the City of Boston, in which my predecessors and I have designated the Boston Police Homicide Unit as our investigative agency for more than 40 years. This designation, however, has never been exclusive to Boston police. State Police homicide detectives have not only been the district attorney's designee in Suffolk County's other jurisdictions but have long been designated to handle homicide and death investigations within Boston as well.

As far back as 1993, my predecessor, Ralph C. Martin II, designated State Police as his law enforcement representative on virtually all state-owned roads, buildings, and properties. It's a consistent arrangement that has worked well and makes sense. My decision to designate State Police homicide detectives to investigate deaths on MBTA property makes equally good sense and is supported by the Transit Police. A single agency now bears responsibility for death investigations on every mile of MBTA track and in every MBTA station throughout Massachusetts.

The use of State Police detectives also brings the resources of another trained, motivated, and experienced homicide unit into the city, freeing up equally talented and capable Boston police homicide detectives to focus on an already-high volume of cases. Prior to this designation, Boston police were investigating upward of 70 homicides per year, while State Police were investigating fewer than a dozen. The workload is more than the relatively few homicides that have occurred on the MBTA in Boston: Homicide detectives must also respond to every suicide, sudden death, and potentially fatal violent crime.

Nor does this move result in a loss of street-level intelligence. Transit police, not Boston police, have always patrolled MBTA property and, with the exception of homicides, handled their own cases. Additionally, treating critical intelligence information as the exclusive "property" of any single agency is a practice that was discredited years ago. State Police, Boston police, and Suffolk prosecutors - not to mention federal law enforcement partners - have for years shared information on gun- and gang-related cases. State Police Gang Unit officers work Boston's streets every night with the Boston Police Youth Violence Strike Force and receive intelligence through the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, which gathers street-level intelligence and disseminates it to law enforcement agencies. State Police resources include a variety of specialized teams and units that can be brought to bear on any crime at any time.

I have tremendous faith and confidence in the men and women of the Boston Police Department. I also have faith and confidence in the State Police detectives assigned to my office. Deploying another proven homicide unit to handle a limited number of death investigations makes for a uniform statewide approach that bolsters public safety resources at a time when we need them most.