October 6, 2025 • 38 mins
Over the weekend South End residents described seeing a large crowd of nearly 100 people involved in what appeared to be a chaotic scene on Mass Ave and Tremont St. Boston police say the group of people threw fireworks, traffic cones, poles, and other objects at cruisers during a “large-scale vehicle takeover" where a police cruiser was set on fire. A similar incident occurred in Randolph, MA just an hour earlier. Are the two incidents connected? What spurred the vehicle takeover? Some point to a growing nationwide trend. Larry Calderone, President of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association checked in to discuss.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Well, there was an interesting group of activities this weekend
in Boston for those of you who live in I
believe Middleborough in Greater Boston, Middleborough, also Randolph and a
little bit of West Roxbury, with the big finale around
one o'clock on Sunday morning in Boston South End there
(00:29):
was what they call a meet up or street activity
where a bunch of knuckleheads decide to drive their cars,
block off intersections and basically taunt police officers and in
one case, one of the police vehicles and goodness there
were no police officers inside at the time, was set
(00:49):
a fire to.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Mensa candidates on Julian Bauer's eighteen and Cumberland, Wrote Island
and William Candwell of Warwick, Rhode Island.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
He's nineteen years old. They were arraigned today.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
On a variety of charges including I believe assault on
a police officer, salt and battery and a police officer,
disorderly conduct, resisting rest, and malicious destruction of property. Unfortunately,
their bail was I thought way too low, thousand dollars
for Cadwell and five hundred for Boers thought the bail
(01:27):
should have at least matched the amount of damage that
the group did with us. Now, as the president of
the Boston Police Patrolman's Association, friend of this program for
many years, Larry called her own Larry. It was a
rough night to be a Boston police officer in Boston
the morning of October the Yes, it was October the fifth.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
How are you tonight, Thanks, Dan, thanks for having me on.
I'm doing well. Yeah, It's a tough job every day
of the week, but some nights, some nights like this weekend,
make it all that much tougher and a little bit
more scarier for people.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
What was going on? What was going on? I know
Randolph had some activity.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I saw a news report on that. But one story
I read said that there was also some street activity
of these so called meetups. You can explain to my
audience what they mean.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
But was there some activity in West Roxbury over the
weekend as well?
Speaker 4 (02:20):
There was so all on the same night, Dan. Apparently
it started in Randolph. They have these meetups where they
use the social media wraps and hundreds of individuals talk
to one another and they have a planned event and
they met up in Randolph, same type of scenario. They
close off a bunch of streets, they get into an intersection,
(02:40):
they block it with their vehicles, and basically they're spinning
their wheels, they're doing donuts. They're acting like kids, I
guess you would say in a parking lot, except they're
doing it on a public roadway, and it makes it
all that much more dangerous. And it appears as though
they're drawing the attention of police officers who come and
monitor the situation, and usually they disperse. And when this
(03:04):
happened in Randolph, they left. They showed up in West
Roxbury about an hour later. They did it, same type
of scenario, block off an intersection, except this time they
get a little bit more aggressive. They have fire and fireworks,
they've been in their tires. This is right out on
the Deadham line in West Roxbury on Washington Street. So
(03:24):
I have it verified from some of my members that
not only will we monitoring the situation, but so were
the Deadham police. The crowd disperses, and now later they
show up down the South End in Boston, except this time,
when police officers were alerted to their presence. The first
police cruiser goes through the intersection. Nothing happens. As the
(03:48):
second police cruiser enters the intersection, immediately they close it off.
They moved their cars into a position where the police
officer was stuck in a gauntlet, so to speak, had
no means of regress, and the only way that he
could keep himself safe was to continue to do circles
within the middle of the intersection. And while this was transpiring,
(04:11):
in his words, hundreds of people automatically ambushed them, came out.
They were striking the car with poles, they were hitting
it with their hands, they were throwing objects at it.
Meanwhile they're firing fireworks. So their assault in this police
officer or an assault in this cruiser, until eventually it
pops into flames. And somehow the crowd, of course disperses
(04:33):
as more police officers are coming to the officer in
trouble call. And when we get enough help there as
the crowd is running, the officers are able to apprehend
two of the individuals that were I don't know if
they're the main culprit, so I want to be fair,
but they are the individuals in the crowd that were
striking the car, that were assaulting the officer. And they
(04:55):
were placed under arrest.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah, as I said, it's possible that they were heading
at one point thirty on sun the morning to a
local mensa meeting Larry and they might have just been
innocently walking by and nabbed by the police and the
victims of I don't know, some form of just absurd.
I mean, can you imagine if it's your eighteen year
(05:17):
old kid or your nineteen year old kid. I watched
a couple of one of the stations tonight, the parents
walking them out of.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Out of court.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
The parents must really be proud of their kids that
that's where they were at one thirty in the morning.
I mean, yeah, I guess.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Well, well, you know, Dan O Paris used to say
nothing good happens after eleven, and I tell my own kids,
nothing good happens after ten, because I hope they'll go
home a little bit earlier. But yeah, yeah, you know,
you're out. You're out at one thirty, two thirty, three
thirty in the morning. As I've had a lot to
say today on the behalf of my members. This was
(05:53):
a planned event and from Randolph to West Roxbury to
deeper into the city of Boston. The perpetrators only became
more aggressive and went to a point in Boston lately,
at least in the last several weeks, where it almost
seems like individuals come in from out of town and
(06:14):
out of state and they want to attack police officers.
I don't understand it. And we did get a great
response from Mayo Wu. She stood behind us. Some of
the elected officials in city Hall today put a resolution
forward to support us. But we need more than that.
We need the judiciary, we need all elected officials, we
need community members. This should never be tolerated. You shouldn't
(06:37):
have a fight at the MGM where they attack police
officers out front and physically get into fisticuffs. You shouldn't
have two police officers attacked in a Boston public school
last week. You shouldn't have a police officer a few
weeks back shot on the job. Police officers are not
punching bags. That's not what we get paid to do.
(06:57):
We're here to protect and serve and they have every
right to go home at the end of the night
and see their loved ones.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
And we need people to stand up for us, and
we need prosecution to happen. I mean, we're happy with
the stance that District Attorney Hayden's office put forth. Today,
we're not quite thrilled with the bail, but sometimes individuals
can't afford a bail, so we are sympathetic from that standpoint.
I don't want to seem like.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Well, let me let me take a criticism towards the
DA's office.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
You don't have to join this criticism, but.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
I'm familiar with an establishment a liquor store in West
Roxbury who about a year ago, a guy came in
took a bunch of expensive bottles of liquor, put him
in a bag. When he went to check out at
the counter, they had they had monitored this individual. He
(07:51):
put one lique one bottle of liquor up on the
counter to pay for so the owner of the establishment
went over and confronted the gentleman and and advised that
he should put all of the bottles that were in
the bag. Words were exchanged, uh and the thief ran
out the door with the bag. The owner of the store,
(08:13):
guy who was in his fifties, chased after him, caught
up with the guy and grabbed the bag from the
guy that had taken the liquor. The liquors the extra bottles.
The guy threw the one bottle that he had in
his hand, assaulting, hitting the owner of the liquor store,
(08:33):
and he ran off the liquor store owner. When he
went back to the liquor store, he realized that in
the bag besides the bottles were this guy's release records
from like a couple of days before from the Suffolk
County House of Correction and his driver's license and other identification.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Uh. He then, you know, made an identification and it
was in the system.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
In June of this year, he got a call from
the DA's office saying the situation had been resolved. And
my friend told me on Saturday. He said, well, wait
a second, why are you calling me now? I was
hoping to be a witness as as I was a
victim of assault and battery to a bottle of liquor
(09:18):
was thrown at me. And they said, well, it was resolved.
He was given, you know, some slap on the wrist
probation if that is what the DA's office in Boston
does with someone who obviously had just been released from
prison from jail and h and then his first or
(09:39):
one of his first acts was to go and rob
rob a liquor store.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
I think D. A.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Hayden should find himself another line of work and you
don't have to join that in that point of view, Larry,
But that is a ridiculous, you know, disposition of that case.
And it's insulting to the owner of the liquor store
to be called three or four months later. Are they
that busy in the Suffolk County District Attorney's office They
(10:05):
wouldn't tell him in advance, we're going to have a
hearing and we're going to resolve this next week. Telling
him four months later. I'm appalled at that. And that's
not a criticism of the police department. That's a criticism
of District Attorneys Hayden's office.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
No, I appreciate that, and of course, for the listeners,
I'm assigned to West Roxbury, I'm familiar with that case.
I actually went down and spoke to the store owner
and we've been working hand in hand with the Captain
in West Roxbury to have some better community policing and
walking beach.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
You've been doing You've been right. The police department has
been doing a great job for this particular owner, this
this this businessman. But Boy, doesn't that send a message
to the criminal element that I mean, you know, these
kids will get some sort of probation.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Who did this? Who destroyed a police cruiser.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
I don't know what a police cruiser costs the taxpayers
in Boston, but I got to assume with the equipment
that you have inside, fifty thousand dollars at least maybe more.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Yeah, it's a little bit more than that. I'd be
willing to guess it's probably around sixty seventy thousand. And
I'm glad we came right back to the events of
the weekend because that's really weird. I'd like to focus
because there has to be some type of punishment that's
handed down. It can't just be a slap on the wrist.
We need to show individuals that if you're going to
(11:25):
attack a police officer, if you're going to assault the
police officer, there has to be repercussions. It can't just
be a slap on the wrist and hey, don't do
it again, because the fact is they come right back
another summer, another weekend, and they're doing the same thing,
maybe not in Boston, but in another community. And if
you don't at least teach somebody that their actions are
(11:47):
wrong in some way, shape or form. They're just going
to reoffend, and we can't have a we can't wait
till a police officer ends up in the hospital or
worse and say, oh, we should have done something differently.
So I fully hope and expect that the Police Commissioner
will have a very thorough investigation with the state wide
(12:08):
brick Unit with the state police. I hope the DA's
office will continue to push and I hope that the
judge in this case down the road will hand down
some type of punishment that is justified. I mean, look,
no one got hurt. Surely that they're not going to prison.
We're not advocating for a super strong sentence that would
be out of the ordinary, but we are looking for
(12:31):
some type of punishment that fits the crime, because without it,
they're just going to reoffend. And we're just saying that
it's okay to have this type of behavior and assault
police officers, and it's not okay, and people should be
worried if if you have an individual that thinks nothing
of assaulting a police officer, imagine what they would do
to Joe citizen walking down the Street.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Larry, let me just take quick break here and I'll
keep you to nine point thirty one more segment. I
just want to follow up on other people I want
to call and ask questions. I can try to fit
a couple of callers in, but it's been a long
day for you. I know that I'm going to talk
about this for the balance at this hour because this
has to be confronted. My guest is Larry called Aerone.
He's the president of the Boston Police Patrolman's Association. Didn't
(13:15):
mean to put you on the spot, but it's just
the idea of crime and no punishment has become I think,
uh emblematic of what's going on in Boston, and that
is not a good thing.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
And I just wanted to raise that issue for the
audience to be aware.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
We'll be back on Night's Side with Larry called Aerone,
the president of the Boston Police Patrolman's Association. If you'd
like to jump on board, give us a call. Six one, seven, two,
five four to ten thirty six one seven, nine three
one ten thirty Back on night Side after this.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Larry, you saw some of this activity about a year
ago in the summer of lass summer in twenty twenty four,
and I think there was one night on Newberry Street
where these, uh, this group sort of took over. I
don't know if it's the same group of kids, but
they have taken you know, these the so called meetups.
(14:15):
Is there any charge? I mean, let's assume they just
take over a an intersection. I mean that has to
scare the heck out of people who are driving home
from a you know, this tends to happen after midnight,
so people are out driving home.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
This is this really is.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
A serious not it's more than an inconvenience. It's and
it's an assault on the peace and quietude of neighborhoods
in Boston. And I hope the authorities will be on
the police department will take this seriously.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Well. I hope so too, because yes, usually it's in
residential neighborhoods. It's extremely late at night or early in
the morning, which have you prefer and and working people
are in bed sleep and kids are in bed, you know,
sleeping before school, and it interrupts their quality of life.
You know, it's unfortunate that these things do happen. It's
(15:11):
one of the negatives, I guess, we'll say, of social
media where they can coordinate these types of events and
and hundreds of people show up and entires, they're blowing
off fireworks and they're they're creating a blockade, so police
officers usually cannot get into disperse their crowd, and when
(15:32):
they're done, everybody takes off, and it's and it's not
the type of crime where police officers are going to
chase the car for blocking an intersection growing up by
your works. You know, we're just that day and age
is over. We're a little bit more professional, a little
bit more precise in the way we police, so we
would rather they just move on. But what happened in
(15:54):
the South End the other night is totally unacceptable.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Dan.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
They created a gauntlet. This was intent. You know, as
far as we're concerned, we're extremely worried about the safety
of our offices. It's you know, they went to Randolph.
There's all kinds of videos out there. Are they watching
the response time of police officers? Are they watching how
we respond to these types of calls? And as they
(16:18):
moved from one sect to the to another, are they
becoming more bold. I think that's clearly evident that that's
exactly what happened. And after they were able to get
the first police cruiser into the intersection, they blocked it
off and they kept that officer there so that they
could attack them and film it at the same time.
It's really really thick behavior for adolescents today. It's really
(16:40):
awful that they think that this type of behavior is
acceptable or even funny.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
I saw some video, and the video was sort of grainy,
but there were some kids who had very long sticks.
They were much longer than a baseball that they were
four or five feet long, and they were using the
sticks to hit the police car even as it was
on fire. And one of them had a mask that
(17:06):
likened back to some of the INTIFA protests. Now I'm
not suggesting these people were in TIFA, but there were
people who were in that crowd, Larry, when you look
at that video who who were professional agitators. They had
masks and they were trying to stir that crowd up.
I mean, not everybody was there to cause harm to
police officers or to police vehicles, but when you see
(17:28):
people with long sticks who have full masks, they're almost
like I think called they called guy fox masks or
something that sort of a distorted face mask. So be
aware of those folks as well, because those are the
ones who I think are there for the purpose of
really riling people up.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
Well, Dan, and that's why I'm taking a little bit
more of an aggressive stance than our own police commissioner.
Did you know it was a little downplayed in the
newspaper that it was kid spinning tires. It really wasn't
just kids spin and tis not everyone there was an
agitated Not everyone was assaulting the police officer. But there
were those in the crowd like you're talking about that
(18:11):
they were there. They were prepared with their masks, they
were prepared with their with their weapons, I will say,
and they were hell bent on cause and anarchy. They
wanted to harmor police officers. They were using this event
as a means to do so, and it was planned.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
And it might be Larry that the excuse me, I'm
fighting a little bit of a sore throat. I didn't
mean to interrupt you, but that's what it might be
that that's exactly what you're talking about, is that these
two kids who got lugged by the police. The two
kids from from Rhode Island, Bowers from Cumberland, Rhode Island,
eighteen and Cantwell nineteen from Warwick, Rhode Island. They might
(18:49):
have they might not have been the leaders of the group,
but there were people with with that were wearing these
masks that I can remember having seen those masks and
other otherwise much more organized demonstrations.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
So you gotta you gotta, you gotta issue.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
You guys got to deal the guys and gals of
the police department have to deal with under your leadership,
and I'm sure you guys will prevail, but public needs
to support the Boston Police Patrolman's Association.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
Goodn't agree more, Dan, I appreciate your saying so, and
I don't know what you have on the line there,
but if you want me to answer it.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
I'd love to yell. Yeah, let me.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
I gotta take quick news break. I didn't want to.
I know it's been a long day for you. I
got a bunch of phone calls. I promise I'll let
you go at ten, no later than ten. That's that's
a guarantee, Okay. Larry called her own Boston Police Patrolman's
Association president Uh, let's get to the phone calls right
after the news break back on Nightside.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Right after this, It's.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Larry, let's get to the phones right away. I'm gonna
start off with Susan in Milton. Susan, welcome, you are
first this hour with my good friend and guest, Larry Calderone,
the president of the Boston Police Patrolman's Association.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
Go ahead, Susan, good evening, gentlemen. Yes, so I had
a question, but I just wanted to kind of say
I'm older now, but I you know, as a teen,
I grew up in Milton, and you know, we were fresh,
and I'm going to admit that. But when the police came,
we hung out at Cunningham Park. When the police came.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
We left.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
We respected the police, and you always respected the police.
You just never would even think about saying anything or attacking.
And I'm just I'm really worried because it just seems
like lately this is kind of a when did this
all kind of become a thing to suddenly attack police.
(20:55):
And also the bail of five thousand and a thousand
or something, I'm thinking that policeman could have died in
that police car. I'm a nurse. I'm semi retired at
this point, but I mean, I've seen it all. He
could have died in that car.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
So great, great point.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
And when this tied has changed to disrespecting police officers, well.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Larry's been a police officer for a long time. And Larry,
if you could address Susan's observation in question, I'd appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Sure. First off, thanks for calling in, Susan, thank you
for the support. And I couldn't agree with you more.
I've been a police officer for for three decades now.
Came on in the early nineties and there was a
lot of violence in the nineties in the city of Boston.
And when I was growing up, much like yourself, we
were taught right from wrong, and you were taught to
respect police officers and authority. And you were also taught
(21:53):
in school to question authority. But you do it respectfully.
And I'm not pointing fingers a point and blame, but
there's a lot of blame to go around. I think
that family values are a suspect. I think that we're
not educating our kids enough that police officers are here
to protect and serve. We had to aig to it.
You remember the poster that used to be there when
(22:15):
you were a young child that if you were lost,
go find a police officer. I don't see that. I
don't see that being taught today, and I don't see
that being practice in society. So it's really too bad
that we have been vilified, and some of it, some
of it we have brought on ourselves with some questionable
police officers, but they are far and few between. I'll
(22:38):
tell you, after thirty one years, ninety nine point nine
percent of the police officers that I've meant that I've
worked with, I'm doing a great job. They're working hard,
and they're embarrassed by that one tenth of a percent
that don't belong here. So there's a lot of blame
to go around. Susan. All I can say is if
we all do our part, from elected officials to parents
(22:59):
to teach, is that we can get back to the
society that we knew when we were kids.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Susan, thank you so much for your call, great points,
and thanks for respecting police officers.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
Thanks Susan, welcome, Thank you talk again.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Let me go next to Vanessa in Boston, Vanessa.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
You are next on nice side with Larry Caldern, the
president of the VPPA.
Speaker 6 (23:20):
Hi, then, thanks for taking my call.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Are you want to speaker of Susans rather? Vanessa? Are
you on a speakerphone?
Speaker 6 (23:28):
No, I'm not.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Okay, Well, I want you to put that phone right
up to your mouth so we can hear you. It
sounds a little a little like a speakerphone. You just
talk right into the mouthpiece, okay, so we can hear
you clearly.
Speaker 7 (23:40):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Correct.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
I'm the daughter of a police officer and I'm actually
away at school right now, and I've been following the
news for the past few days and I woke up
Sunday morning to see videos of the cruiser on fire,
and honestly, it was just very terrifying and he's injured.
You alls need to be prosecuted. And I just want
(24:02):
to say thank you to both you and Larry for
bringing attention to this issue. And I want to remind
everyone that police officers are our fathers and our boyfriends
and husbands and their people too.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Vanessa, thanks very much, It says Vanessa in Boston and
you're going to school here? Are you from Boston and
going school somewhere else.
Speaker 6 (24:26):
I'm from Boston and going to school somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Okay, well, I'm not going to ask you to identify
where you're going to school, but thank you so much
for taking the time to call in.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Larry, say hi to Vanessa.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
She's the daughter of a police is I'm not going
to ask you what force your your dad is on.
It doesn't matter. All police officers should be respected. Go ahead, Larry.
Speaker 6 (24:48):
Oh well, Boston Police.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Oh yes, okay, great, Okay, So Larry, this must be
one of your your your family members, go right ahead.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
Yeah, And I appreciate Bernessa. I appreciate your calling, and
I appreciate you owning up to being the daughter of
a Boston police officer, because it takes a lot of
courage to call in and say that you're worried and
say that you are concerned, and let me put some
of your fears at rest. The Boston Police Department is
(25:18):
an extremely well trained and professional police force. I know
you know this if one of your parents are a
police officer, but it's good to hear it from the
union president, and it's good to hear it from somebody
that has thirty years experience. We are a tremendously well
trained police department, and when this took place, there were
(25:41):
dozens of police officers coming to the aid of the
officer that was in distress. So if you're worried about
your parents, I'm not going to be able to put
that fear to rest. But let me try to help
you and say, you do your study and at school,
you pay attention to what you set out to do.
Whom you're away at college, but know that you're a
(26:02):
parent or parents, they're well trained, they have lots of help,
and we're going to do everything that we can from
a union standpoint to make sure that they go home
safely at the end of their tour.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Vanessa, thank you so much.
Speaker 6 (26:15):
I appreciate everything you've been doing for the union.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
And Vanessa, thanks very much for you taking the time
to call tonight.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
And that's the luck. In school. What's what's your what's
your major going to be? Have you picked the major yet?
Speaker 5 (26:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (26:28):
I'm political science.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
All right, Well that's a great major. Uh And I'm
sure you're going to do well. And thank you so much, Vanessa, talk.
Speaker 6 (26:35):
Soon, Okay, thank you, have a good night.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Keep listening to night side wherever you are. Thank you,
thanks very much.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Gene.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Isn't ever Gene going to get you in here before
the break, so you don't have to wait any longer.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
You can right ahead, Gene.
Speaker 8 (26:50):
Thank you. Hi guys, So honestly, I am so tired
of this lawless lawlessness. I'm tired of it. I'm tired
of it in Boston, I'm tired of it in other places.
And these people are not little angels who are out
they're doing this. They're breaking the law, destroying property, humming
police officers. They're criminals, okay, and I want to see
(27:14):
it stopped. But the thing is, there's somebody maybe in
that neighborhood, maybe they need an ambulance, maybe they have
a heart attack, maybe whatever, and that those people messing
around in that street could have stopped, prevented that person
from getting any help. And really, you know what I'd
like to see. I'd like to see those mace balls
(27:36):
maybe put in something softer where they break open, easy
drop from a drone right into that crowd, let them
cough it out. Maybe that would be a determined something
has to happen. I'm serious. I don't like the mans
because they throw them right back at you. I think
something softer which would open up, you know, like a
cracked egg type of material or something, and drop it
(27:56):
right on them, let them cough it out. They have
to learn, they have to stop. But it's going to
it's like a part of boiling water sizzling. It's not
boiling it. It's going to come to a boil though.
It's going to create a fire. It's going to be bad.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
You got to the problem with that, I think, Gene
is you could have officers there who do not have
access to whatever protective equipment they might need, and they
might find themselves in the middle of that.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Larry a quick comment, maybe.
Speaker 8 (28:24):
They have a guess mask to be all right, go ahead.
Speaker 4 (28:27):
Larry, Well, I'll thank Jean for Colin and we share
your frustration. Gene. I. Naturally, I cannot advocate that we
would use a tactic such as your suggestion, but but
I'm going to reiterate that there has to be some
type of punishment that fits the crime. And a slap
(28:49):
on the wrist and just saying that a twenty year
old is on probation that does not scare kids anymore,
that does not keep young adolescents in line, and that
does not rehabilitate them and teach them right if I'm wrong.
Uh So there needs to be something a little bit stronger.
What that is? You know, every case is different. I'm
not going to pretend to know every single one, but listen,
(29:11):
I appreciate the support. I know the men and women
that I represent appreciate your support, and we share your
frustration for too long that's been going on.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
All right, Thanks, thanks, Okay, thank you, Jam.
Speaker 8 (29:24):
I'm up with my Breakako.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Yeah, thank you very much. Larry. One more segment coming up.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
We'll be right back with Larry Calderroll, the president of
the Boston Police Patrolman's Association. We've got Tom, Steve, and
Judy lined up, and I guarantee all three of you
will get in in that order.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Coming back on night Side.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on wz Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
We're a little pressed here.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
We got a lot of callers and we're going to
go to Tom in West Virginia. Tom help me out here.
I want to get at least three of you in
between now and ten.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Go right ahead.
Speaker 7 (29:57):
Yeah, Number one. I go back to Boston when I
started going to school, lived there in nineteen seventy eight,
and the Boston Police Force has done a tremendous job
of keeping that city safe. I mean, they've had twenty
five murders last year. Compare that with nineteen ninety when
(30:19):
there was over one hundred and fifty.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Well compared to Baltimore, which is a similar sized city.
Speaker 7 (30:26):
I know, yeah, right, I understand that. But you know,
I used to serve on a board for Ward ten
and Mission Hill, where I'm going to name a couple
of names. The officer would probably be familiar with Paul
Evans as well as police officer John Harden and really
good cops back then, and it was it was difficult
(30:48):
dealing with the problems Boston had back then. And I've
just seen a police force just do a complete turnaround.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
And well, I'm sure, I'm sure Larry very much appreciates that.
Speaker 7 (31:04):
Yeah, meditations that are done by go ahead.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
Sorry, I'm sorry about that, Tom, continue please, and then
I'll chime in. Go ahead.
Speaker 7 (31:14):
Yeah. Well, the thing is that these trated things that
are going on, and it's happening in different parts of
the country, and the problem is if you have a
couple of cruises there and all of a sudden, there's
one hundred kids around you and they're shooting off Roman
candles and skyrockets and what have you. You're right, a vehicle
can catch on fire and things get out of hand
(31:37):
very quickly. And with regards to those fools running around
with their guy fox masks, those are anarchists. And all
you have to do is understand. You know, a century ago,
what was going on over in Europe and parts of America,
we had anarchists doing the same thing. The officer is
that you know something you need to Tom.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Let me.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
I don't mean to dirupt you, but I want to
get Larry in here for a second. Okay, go ahead, Larry,
you got a feeing in Tom here in West Virginia.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
Yeah. I was going to say thanks for calling from
so far away and being from War ten. You know
what Mission Hill used to be like during the early nineties.
And again I came on in the early nineties, and
yet we had a murderator of over one hundred and
twenty five hundred and fifty and we are now one
of the safest cities in the country. And we're proud
of that because the police department has transformed itself We're
(32:28):
the leader in community policing, We're the leader in training
and professionalism, and we exude that every day. The men
and women on the street do a tremendous job, and
we're actually loved by our general public. You're always going
to have people that don't like you, but overall we
are one of the safest cities. We do a great job,
and things are much different than in the early nineties.
And yes, I'm well acquainted with Paul Evins, who is retired,
(32:51):
was the commissioner, but I have a very good working
relationship with him to this day. He's actually the chief
over at Boston College.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
All right, thanks to appreciate, appreciate the call and the perspective.
Appreciate it. Let me go next real quickly to Steve
and Linfield. Steve, you're on with Larry called their own
president of the Boston Police Patrolman's Association.
Speaker 9 (33:09):
Go ahead, Steeve, Hey, gentlemen, good evenings ahead.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
I turned in tuned in a little bit late to night.
Speaker 9 (33:16):
The woman was on when I tuned in, said when
did this all start? This lawlessness? And if you look
at the schools, there's no more detention. There's restorative justice,
right nobody. There's no accountability for actions starting from when
you're really little. So when you get to be adults
and you get released for minor crimes with no punishment,
(33:38):
were created a society. Sorry, I just sent upstairs. I'm
out of breath. But there's just lawlessness and nobody is
ever held accountable for their actions. Again, it starts in school,
in grammar school, and it goes all the way through
adulthood when we have district attorneys who release people with
the slap on the wrist.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Right, all great points, Stevid. Lets you catch your breath.
I think Larry would agree with you.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
Yeah, Steve again, thanks for Collin, and yes, catch your breath,
and yeah, you're right that times are extremely different. My
phone here is actually going off. Somebody just texted me.
We talk about what they're taught and what kids are
not taught, and where we are politically. But apparently there's
a Virginia Democratic Attorney General candidate j Jones who had
(34:27):
some chilling things to say. Geez, I hate even to
say this on the air. Dan, if this is true, it.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Is true, it is true, he would he at some
point a few years ago, he made a joke about
basically putting two bullets in the head of a Republican
House speaker in the state of Virginia. And that is
a guy the Democrats now running for attorney general in
the state of Virginia. And if the Democrats are smart,
and I hope they are, they will throw him overboard
(34:54):
and find it a better candidate.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
Dan. This one's worse that this one. Again, I don't
if this is true, but I've received this now twice
more cops get killed after being stripped of their legal protection,
they would shoot fewer people. I mean, what kind of
political operative would say something like that. That's just in
the total violence against police officers. So, uh, you know,
(35:19):
stay in Virginia, I guess is what I would say
to that.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Well, you know this, this, this is gonna this is
going to blow up.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
This very well may cost the Democrats a Senate seat
because there's a Senate seat up in November, a US
Senate seat and a governorship and if it does, it'll
serve them.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Correct. This guy is disgusting, absolutely disgusting.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
But you're you're whoever's texting you knows what they're talking about.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
Well, Steve, thank you, and yeah, I don't know what
to say to the to this Uh. I found that appalling,
so I shared it with you. Dan.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
Well again, this at a time when there's just too
much of this stuff going on in actuality, UH, and
too much of this verbal commentary back and forth. It
has to it has to stop in this country. Steve,
thank you very much for your call. I'm gonna I
don't have enough time, Larry. I've got other callers. I'm
(36:11):
going to invite those callers to hang through the ten
o'clock news so that they can. They're both from Boston,
and I'm gonna ask Judy and Rita stay right there,
will continue this conversation.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
Larry has to go back to work in the morning.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
I don't have to go back to work until tomorrow
at eight pm night, so I'll let Larry go. Larry,
thanks so much, and thanks for being the stand up
guy for your membership that you are.
Speaker 4 (36:37):
I appreciate it. Dan, and those two callers, I appreciate
them calling, and especially being from Boston. Hopefully they're in
support of the men and women that are out there
answering the calls for service, because they're the ones that
really need the respect. I'm you know, I'm three decades
old now, and I'm speaking for them, and they're out
there answering the calls and working the doubles and unfortunately
(36:58):
having muli toough cocktail thrown at them in batteries and
so forth. So not the keep standing up for them,
because we're going to so thank you Dan.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
My pleasure.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
Larry called he wrong. We'll talk soon, Larry, Uh, Judy
and Rita. You stay right there because you will lead
us off in the next hour. In the meantime, if
you'd like to join this conversation, this absurdity that took
place not only in Randolph, Middleborough, but West Roxbury and
then a culminated in the South End. This has to
(37:31):
be stopped and you need to, particularly if you're a
Boston resident, you need to speak up because if not,
those in power will bend to the will of the
knuckleheads who think it's a great time to burn a
police car, to immolate a police car.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Uh in the South End at the intersection of.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Mass and Tremont Street, just massav and Tremont back on
Night's side, six one seven, six months seven. I'll be
more than happy to for another hour on this because
they think it's such an important topic back on Night's
side right after this
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Well, there was an interesting group of activities this weekend
in Boston for those of you who live in I
believe Middleborough in Greater Boston, Middleborough, also Randolph and a
little bit of West Roxbury, with the big finale around
one o'clock on Sunday morning in Boston South End there
(00:29):
was what they call a meet up or street activity
where a bunch of knuckleheads decide to drive their cars,
block off intersections and basically taunt police officers and in
one case, one of the police vehicles and goodness there
were no police officers inside at the time, was set
(00:49):
a fire to.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Mensa candidates on Julian Bauer's eighteen and Cumberland, Wrote Island
and William Candwell of Warwick, Rhode Island.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
He's nineteen years old. They were arraigned today.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
On a variety of charges including I believe assault on
a police officer, salt and battery and a police officer,
disorderly conduct, resisting rest, and malicious destruction of property. Unfortunately,
their bail was I thought way too low, thousand dollars
for Cadwell and five hundred for Boers thought the bail
(01:27):
should have at least matched the amount of damage that
the group did with us. Now, as the president of
the Boston Police Patrolman's Association, friend of this program for
many years, Larry called her own Larry. It was a
rough night to be a Boston police officer in Boston
the morning of October the Yes, it was October the fifth.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
How are you tonight, Thanks, Dan, thanks for having me on.
I'm doing well. Yeah, It's a tough job every day
of the week, but some nights, some nights like this weekend,
make it all that much tougher and a little bit
more scarier for people.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
What was going on? What was going on? I know
Randolph had some activity.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I saw a news report on that. But one story
I read said that there was also some street activity
of these so called meetups. You can explain to my
audience what they mean.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
But was there some activity in West Roxbury over the
weekend as well?
Speaker 4 (02:20):
There was so all on the same night, Dan. Apparently
it started in Randolph. They have these meetups where they
use the social media wraps and hundreds of individuals talk
to one another and they have a planned event and
they met up in Randolph, same type of scenario. They
close off a bunch of streets, they get into an intersection,
(02:40):
they block it with their vehicles, and basically they're spinning
their wheels, they're doing donuts. They're acting like kids, I
guess you would say in a parking lot, except they're
doing it on a public roadway, and it makes it
all that much more dangerous. And it appears as though
they're drawing the attention of police officers who come and
monitor the situation, and usually they disperse. And when this
(03:04):
happened in Randolph, they left. They showed up in West
Roxbury about an hour later. They did it, same type
of scenario, block off an intersection, except this time they
get a little bit more aggressive. They have fire and fireworks,
they've been in their tires. This is right out on
the Deadham line in West Roxbury on Washington Street. So
(03:24):
I have it verified from some of my members that
not only will we monitoring the situation, but so were
the Deadham police. The crowd disperses, and now later they
show up down the South End in Boston, except this time,
when police officers were alerted to their presence. The first
police cruiser goes through the intersection. Nothing happens. As the
(03:48):
second police cruiser enters the intersection, immediately they close it off.
They moved their cars into a position where the police
officer was stuck in a gauntlet, so to speak, had
no means of regress, and the only way that he
could keep himself safe was to continue to do circles
within the middle of the intersection. And while this was transpiring,
(04:11):
in his words, hundreds of people automatically ambushed them, came out.
They were striking the car with poles, they were hitting
it with their hands, they were throwing objects at it.
Meanwhile they're firing fireworks. So their assault in this police
officer or an assault in this cruiser, until eventually it
pops into flames. And somehow the crowd, of course disperses
(04:33):
as more police officers are coming to the officer in
trouble call. And when we get enough help there as
the crowd is running, the officers are able to apprehend
two of the individuals that were I don't know if
they're the main culprit, so I want to be fair,
but they are the individuals in the crowd that were
striking the car, that were assaulting the officer. And they
(04:55):
were placed under arrest.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah, as I said, it's possible that they were heading
at one point thirty on sun the morning to a
local mensa meeting Larry and they might have just been
innocently walking by and nabbed by the police and the
victims of I don't know, some form of just absurd.
I mean, can you imagine if it's your eighteen year
(05:17):
old kid or your nineteen year old kid. I watched
a couple of one of the stations tonight, the parents
walking them out of.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Out of court.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
The parents must really be proud of their kids that
that's where they were at one thirty in the morning.
I mean, yeah, I guess.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Well, well, you know, Dan O Paris used to say
nothing good happens after eleven, and I tell my own kids,
nothing good happens after ten, because I hope they'll go
home a little bit earlier. But yeah, yeah, you know,
you're out. You're out at one thirty, two thirty, three
thirty in the morning. As I've had a lot to
say today on the behalf of my members. This was
(05:53):
a planned event and from Randolph to West Roxbury to
deeper into the city of Boston. The perpetrators only became
more aggressive and went to a point in Boston lately,
at least in the last several weeks, where it almost
seems like individuals come in from out of town and
(06:14):
out of state and they want to attack police officers.
I don't understand it. And we did get a great
response from Mayo Wu. She stood behind us. Some of
the elected officials in city Hall today put a resolution
forward to support us. But we need more than that.
We need the judiciary, we need all elected officials, we
need community members. This should never be tolerated. You shouldn't
(06:37):
have a fight at the MGM where they attack police
officers out front and physically get into fisticuffs. You shouldn't
have two police officers attacked in a Boston public school
last week. You shouldn't have a police officer a few
weeks back shot on the job. Police officers are not
punching bags. That's not what we get paid to do.
(06:57):
We're here to protect and serve and they have every
right to go home at the end of the night
and see their loved ones.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
And we need people to stand up for us, and
we need prosecution to happen. I mean, we're happy with
the stance that District Attorney Hayden's office put forth. Today,
we're not quite thrilled with the bail, but sometimes individuals
can't afford a bail, so we are sympathetic from that standpoint.
I don't want to seem like.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Well, let me let me take a criticism towards the
DA's office.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
You don't have to join this criticism, but.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
I'm familiar with an establishment a liquor store in West
Roxbury who about a year ago, a guy came in
took a bunch of expensive bottles of liquor, put him
in a bag. When he went to check out at
the counter, they had they had monitored this individual. He
(07:51):
put one lique one bottle of liquor up on the
counter to pay for so the owner of the establishment
went over and confronted the gentleman and and advised that
he should put all of the bottles that were in
the bag. Words were exchanged, uh and the thief ran
out the door with the bag. The owner of the store,
(08:13):
guy who was in his fifties, chased after him, caught
up with the guy and grabbed the bag from the
guy that had taken the liquor. The liquors the extra bottles.
The guy threw the one bottle that he had in
his hand, assaulting, hitting the owner of the liquor store,
(08:33):
and he ran off the liquor store owner. When he
went back to the liquor store, he realized that in
the bag besides the bottles were this guy's release records
from like a couple of days before from the Suffolk
County House of Correction and his driver's license and other identification.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Uh. He then, you know, made an identification and it
was in the system.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
In June of this year, he got a call from
the DA's office saying the situation had been resolved. And
my friend told me on Saturday. He said, well, wait
a second, why are you calling me now? I was
hoping to be a witness as as I was a
victim of assault and battery to a bottle of liquor
(09:18):
was thrown at me. And they said, well, it was resolved.
He was given, you know, some slap on the wrist
probation if that is what the DA's office in Boston
does with someone who obviously had just been released from
prison from jail and h and then his first or
(09:39):
one of his first acts was to go and rob
rob a liquor store.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
I think D. A.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Hayden should find himself another line of work and you
don't have to join that in that point of view, Larry,
But that is a ridiculous, you know, disposition of that case.
And it's insulting to the owner of the liquor store
to be called three or four months later. Are they
that busy in the Suffolk County District Attorney's office They
(10:05):
wouldn't tell him in advance, we're going to have a
hearing and we're going to resolve this next week. Telling
him four months later. I'm appalled at that. And that's
not a criticism of the police department. That's a criticism
of District Attorneys Hayden's office.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
No, I appreciate that, and of course, for the listeners,
I'm assigned to West Roxbury, I'm familiar with that case.
I actually went down and spoke to the store owner
and we've been working hand in hand with the Captain
in West Roxbury to have some better community policing and
walking beach.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
You've been doing You've been right. The police department has
been doing a great job for this particular owner, this
this this businessman. But Boy, doesn't that send a message
to the criminal element that I mean, you know, these
kids will get some sort of probation.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Who did this? Who destroyed a police cruiser.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
I don't know what a police cruiser costs the taxpayers
in Boston, but I got to assume with the equipment
that you have inside, fifty thousand dollars at least maybe more.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Yeah, it's a little bit more than that. I'd be
willing to guess it's probably around sixty seventy thousand. And
I'm glad we came right back to the events of
the weekend because that's really weird. I'd like to focus
because there has to be some type of punishment that's
handed down. It can't just be a slap on the wrist.
We need to show individuals that if you're going to
(11:25):
attack a police officer, if you're going to assault the
police officer, there has to be repercussions. It can't just
be a slap on the wrist and hey, don't do
it again, because the fact is they come right back
another summer, another weekend, and they're doing the same thing,
maybe not in Boston, but in another community. And if
you don't at least teach somebody that their actions are
(11:47):
wrong in some way, shape or form. They're just going
to reoffend, and we can't have a we can't wait
till a police officer ends up in the hospital or
worse and say, oh, we should have done something differently.
So I fully hope and expect that the Police Commissioner
will have a very thorough investigation with the state wide
(12:08):
brick Unit with the state police. I hope the DA's
office will continue to push and I hope that the
judge in this case down the road will hand down
some type of punishment that is justified. I mean, look,
no one got hurt. Surely that they're not going to prison.
We're not advocating for a super strong sentence that would
be out of the ordinary, but we are looking for
(12:31):
some type of punishment that fits the crime, because without it,
they're just going to reoffend. And we're just saying that
it's okay to have this type of behavior and assault
police officers, and it's not okay, and people should be
worried if if you have an individual that thinks nothing
of assaulting a police officer, imagine what they would do
to Joe citizen walking down the Street.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Larry, let me just take quick break here and I'll
keep you to nine point thirty one more segment. I
just want to follow up on other people I want
to call and ask questions. I can try to fit
a couple of callers in, but it's been a long
day for you. I know that I'm going to talk
about this for the balance at this hour because this
has to be confronted. My guest is Larry called Aerone.
He's the president of the Boston Police Patrolman's Association. Didn't
(13:15):
mean to put you on the spot, but it's just
the idea of crime and no punishment has become I think,
uh emblematic of what's going on in Boston, and that
is not a good thing.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
And I just wanted to raise that issue for the
audience to be aware.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
We'll be back on Night's Side with Larry called Aerone,
the president of the Boston Police Patrolman's Association. If you'd
like to jump on board, give us a call. Six one, seven, two,
five four to ten thirty six one seven, nine three
one ten thirty Back on night Side after this.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Larry, you saw some of this activity about a year
ago in the summer of lass summer in twenty twenty four,
and I think there was one night on Newberry Street
where these, uh, this group sort of took over. I
don't know if it's the same group of kids, but
they have taken you know, these the so called meetups.
(14:15):
Is there any charge? I mean, let's assume they just
take over a an intersection. I mean that has to
scare the heck out of people who are driving home
from a you know, this tends to happen after midnight,
so people are out driving home.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
This is this really is.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
A serious not it's more than an inconvenience. It's and
it's an assault on the peace and quietude of neighborhoods
in Boston. And I hope the authorities will be on
the police department will take this seriously.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Well. I hope so too, because yes, usually it's in
residential neighborhoods. It's extremely late at night or early in
the morning, which have you prefer and and working people
are in bed sleep and kids are in bed, you know,
sleeping before school, and it interrupts their quality of life.
You know, it's unfortunate that these things do happen. It's
(15:11):
one of the negatives, I guess, we'll say, of social
media where they can coordinate these types of events and
and hundreds of people show up and entires, they're blowing
off fireworks and they're they're creating a blockade, so police
officers usually cannot get into disperse their crowd, and when
(15:32):
they're done, everybody takes off, and it's and it's not
the type of crime where police officers are going to
chase the car for blocking an intersection growing up by
your works. You know, we're just that day and age
is over. We're a little bit more professional, a little
bit more precise in the way we police, so we
would rather they just move on. But what happened in
(15:54):
the South End the other night is totally unacceptable.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Dan.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
They created a gauntlet. This was intent. You know, as
far as we're concerned, we're extremely worried about the safety
of our offices. It's you know, they went to Randolph.
There's all kinds of videos out there. Are they watching
the response time of police officers? Are they watching how
we respond to these types of calls? And as they
(16:18):
moved from one sect to the to another, are they
becoming more bold. I think that's clearly evident that that's
exactly what happened. And after they were able to get
the first police cruiser into the intersection, they blocked it
off and they kept that officer there so that they
could attack them and film it at the same time.
It's really really thick behavior for adolescents today. It's really
(16:40):
awful that they think that this type of behavior is
acceptable or even funny.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
I saw some video, and the video was sort of grainy,
but there were some kids who had very long sticks.
They were much longer than a baseball that they were
four or five feet long, and they were using the
sticks to hit the police car even as it was
on fire. And one of them had a mask that
(17:06):
likened back to some of the INTIFA protests. Now I'm
not suggesting these people were in TIFA, but there were
people who were in that crowd, Larry, when you look
at that video who who were professional agitators. They had
masks and they were trying to stir that crowd up.
I mean, not everybody was there to cause harm to
police officers or to police vehicles, but when you see
(17:28):
people with long sticks who have full masks, they're almost
like I think called they called guy fox masks or
something that sort of a distorted face mask. So be
aware of those folks as well, because those are the
ones who I think are there for the purpose of
really riling people up.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
Well, Dan, and that's why I'm taking a little bit
more of an aggressive stance than our own police commissioner.
Did you know it was a little downplayed in the
newspaper that it was kid spinning tires. It really wasn't
just kids spin and tis not everyone there was an
agitated Not everyone was assaulting the police officer. But there
were those in the crowd like you're talking about that
(18:11):
they were there. They were prepared with their masks, they
were prepared with their with their weapons, I will say,
and they were hell bent on cause and anarchy. They
wanted to harmor police officers. They were using this event
as a means to do so, and it was planned.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
And it might be Larry that the excuse me, I'm
fighting a little bit of a sore throat. I didn't
mean to interrupt you, but that's what it might be
that that's exactly what you're talking about, is that these
two kids who got lugged by the police. The two
kids from from Rhode Island, Bowers from Cumberland, Rhode Island,
eighteen and Cantwell nineteen from Warwick, Rhode Island. They might
(18:49):
have they might not have been the leaders of the group,
but there were people with with that were wearing these
masks that I can remember having seen those masks and
other otherwise much more organized demonstrations.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
So you gotta you gotta, you gotta issue.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
You guys got to deal the guys and gals of
the police department have to deal with under your leadership,
and I'm sure you guys will prevail, but public needs
to support the Boston Police Patrolman's Association.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
Goodn't agree more, Dan, I appreciate your saying so, and
I don't know what you have on the line there,
but if you want me to answer it.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
I'd love to yell. Yeah, let me.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
I gotta take quick news break. I didn't want to.
I know it's been a long day for you. I
got a bunch of phone calls. I promise I'll let
you go at ten, no later than ten. That's that's
a guarantee, Okay. Larry called her own Boston Police Patrolman's
Association president Uh, let's get to the phone calls right
after the news break back on Nightside.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Right after this, It's.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Larry, let's get to the phones right away. I'm gonna
start off with Susan in Milton. Susan, welcome, you are
first this hour with my good friend and guest, Larry Calderone,
the president of the Boston Police Patrolman's Association.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
Go ahead, Susan, good evening, gentlemen. Yes, so I had
a question, but I just wanted to kind of say
I'm older now, but I you know, as a teen,
I grew up in Milton, and you know, we were fresh,
and I'm going to admit that. But when the police came,
we hung out at Cunningham Park. When the police came.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
We left.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
We respected the police, and you always respected the police.
You just never would even think about saying anything or attacking.
And I'm just I'm really worried because it just seems
like lately this is kind of a when did this
all kind of become a thing to suddenly attack police.
(20:55):
And also the bail of five thousand and a thousand
or something, I'm thinking that policeman could have died in
that police car. I'm a nurse. I'm semi retired at
this point, but I mean, I've seen it all. He
could have died in that car.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
So great, great point.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
And when this tied has changed to disrespecting police officers, well.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Larry's been a police officer for a long time. And Larry,
if you could address Susan's observation in question, I'd appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Sure. First off, thanks for calling in, Susan, thank you
for the support. And I couldn't agree with you more.
I've been a police officer for for three decades now.
Came on in the early nineties and there was a
lot of violence in the nineties in the city of Boston.
And when I was growing up, much like yourself, we
were taught right from wrong, and you were taught to
respect police officers and authority. And you were also taught
(21:53):
in school to question authority. But you do it respectfully.
And I'm not pointing fingers a point and blame, but
there's a lot of blame to go around. I think
that family values are a suspect. I think that we're
not educating our kids enough that police officers are here
to protect and serve. We had to aig to it.
You remember the poster that used to be there when
(22:15):
you were a young child that if you were lost,
go find a police officer. I don't see that. I
don't see that being taught today, and I don't see
that being practice in society. So it's really too bad
that we have been vilified, and some of it, some
of it we have brought on ourselves with some questionable
police officers, but they are far and few between. I'll
(22:38):
tell you, after thirty one years, ninety nine point nine
percent of the police officers that I've meant that I've
worked with, I'm doing a great job. They're working hard,
and they're embarrassed by that one tenth of a percent
that don't belong here. So there's a lot of blame
to go around. Susan. All I can say is if
we all do our part, from elected officials to parents
(22:59):
to teach, is that we can get back to the
society that we knew when we were kids.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Susan, thank you so much for your call, great points,
and thanks for respecting police officers.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
Thanks Susan, welcome, Thank you talk again.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Let me go next to Vanessa in Boston, Vanessa.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
You are next on nice side with Larry Caldern, the
president of the VPPA.
Speaker 6 (23:20):
Hi, then, thanks for taking my call.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Are you want to speaker of Susans rather? Vanessa? Are
you on a speakerphone?
Speaker 6 (23:28):
No, I'm not.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Okay, Well, I want you to put that phone right
up to your mouth so we can hear you. It
sounds a little a little like a speakerphone. You just
talk right into the mouthpiece, okay, so we can hear
you clearly.
Speaker 7 (23:40):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Correct.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
I'm the daughter of a police officer and I'm actually
away at school right now, and I've been following the
news for the past few days and I woke up
Sunday morning to see videos of the cruiser on fire,
and honestly, it was just very terrifying and he's injured.
You alls need to be prosecuted. And I just want
(24:02):
to say thank you to both you and Larry for
bringing attention to this issue. And I want to remind
everyone that police officers are our fathers and our boyfriends
and husbands and their people too.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Vanessa, thanks very much, It says Vanessa in Boston and
you're going to school here? Are you from Boston and
going school somewhere else.
Speaker 6 (24:26):
I'm from Boston and going to school somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Okay, well, I'm not going to ask you to identify
where you're going to school, but thank you so much
for taking the time to call in.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Larry, say hi to Vanessa.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
She's the daughter of a police is I'm not going
to ask you what force your your dad is on.
It doesn't matter. All police officers should be respected. Go ahead, Larry.
Speaker 6 (24:48):
Oh well, Boston Police.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Oh yes, okay, great, Okay, So Larry, this must be
one of your your your family members, go right ahead.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
Yeah, And I appreciate Bernessa. I appreciate your calling, and
I appreciate you owning up to being the daughter of
a Boston police officer, because it takes a lot of
courage to call in and say that you're worried and
say that you are concerned, and let me put some
of your fears at rest. The Boston Police Department is
(25:18):
an extremely well trained and professional police force. I know
you know this if one of your parents are a
police officer, but it's good to hear it from the
union president, and it's good to hear it from somebody
that has thirty years experience. We are a tremendously well
trained police department, and when this took place, there were
(25:41):
dozens of police officers coming to the aid of the
officer that was in distress. So if you're worried about
your parents, I'm not going to be able to put
that fear to rest. But let me try to help
you and say, you do your study and at school,
you pay attention to what you set out to do.
Whom you're away at college, but know that you're a
(26:02):
parent or parents, they're well trained, they have lots of help,
and we're going to do everything that we can from
a union standpoint to make sure that they go home
safely at the end of their tour.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Vanessa, thank you so much.
Speaker 6 (26:15):
I appreciate everything you've been doing for the union.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
And Vanessa, thanks very much for you taking the time
to call tonight.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
And that's the luck. In school. What's what's your what's
your major going to be? Have you picked the major yet?
Speaker 5 (26:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (26:28):
I'm political science.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
All right, Well that's a great major. Uh And I'm
sure you're going to do well. And thank you so much, Vanessa, talk.
Speaker 6 (26:35):
Soon, Okay, thank you, have a good night.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Keep listening to night side wherever you are. Thank you,
thanks very much.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Gene.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Isn't ever Gene going to get you in here before
the break, so you don't have to wait any longer.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
You can right ahead, Gene.
Speaker 8 (26:50):
Thank you. Hi guys, So honestly, I am so tired
of this lawless lawlessness. I'm tired of it. I'm tired
of it in Boston, I'm tired of it in other places.
And these people are not little angels who are out
they're doing this. They're breaking the law, destroying property, humming
police officers. They're criminals, okay, and I want to see
(27:14):
it stopped. But the thing is, there's somebody maybe in
that neighborhood, maybe they need an ambulance, maybe they have
a heart attack, maybe whatever, and that those people messing
around in that street could have stopped, prevented that person
from getting any help. And really, you know what I'd
like to see. I'd like to see those mace balls
(27:36):
maybe put in something softer where they break open, easy
drop from a drone right into that crowd, let them
cough it out. Maybe that would be a determined something
has to happen. I'm serious. I don't like the mans
because they throw them right back at you. I think
something softer which would open up, you know, like a
cracked egg type of material or something, and drop it
(27:56):
right on them, let them cough it out. They have
to learn, they have to stop. But it's going to
it's like a part of boiling water sizzling. It's not
boiling it. It's going to come to a boil though.
It's going to create a fire. It's going to be bad.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
You got to the problem with that, I think, Gene
is you could have officers there who do not have
access to whatever protective equipment they might need, and they
might find themselves in the middle of that.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Larry a quick comment, maybe.
Speaker 8 (28:24):
They have a guess mask to be all right, go ahead.
Speaker 4 (28:27):
Larry, Well, I'll thank Jean for Colin and we share
your frustration. Gene. I. Naturally, I cannot advocate that we
would use a tactic such as your suggestion, but but
I'm going to reiterate that there has to be some
type of punishment that fits the crime. And a slap
(28:49):
on the wrist and just saying that a twenty year
old is on probation that does not scare kids anymore,
that does not keep young adolescents in line, and that
does not rehabilitate them and teach them right if I'm wrong.
Uh So there needs to be something a little bit stronger.
What that is? You know, every case is different. I'm
not going to pretend to know every single one, but listen,
(29:11):
I appreciate the support. I know the men and women
that I represent appreciate your support, and we share your
frustration for too long that's been going on.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
All right, Thanks, thanks, Okay, thank you, Jam.
Speaker 8 (29:24):
I'm up with my Breakako.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Yeah, thank you very much. Larry. One more segment coming up.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
We'll be right back with Larry Calderroll, the president of
the Boston Police Patrolman's Association. We've got Tom, Steve, and
Judy lined up, and I guarantee all three of you
will get in in that order.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Coming back on night Side.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on wz Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
We're a little pressed here.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
We got a lot of callers and we're going to
go to Tom in West Virginia. Tom help me out here.
I want to get at least three of you in
between now and ten.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Go right ahead.
Speaker 7 (29:57):
Yeah, Number one. I go back to Boston when I
started going to school, lived there in nineteen seventy eight,
and the Boston Police Force has done a tremendous job
of keeping that city safe. I mean, they've had twenty
five murders last year. Compare that with nineteen ninety when
(30:19):
there was over one hundred and fifty.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Well compared to Baltimore, which is a similar sized city.
Speaker 7 (30:26):
I know, yeah, right, I understand that. But you know,
I used to serve on a board for Ward ten
and Mission Hill, where I'm going to name a couple
of names. The officer would probably be familiar with Paul
Evans as well as police officer John Harden and really
good cops back then, and it was it was difficult
(30:48):
dealing with the problems Boston had back then. And I've
just seen a police force just do a complete turnaround.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
And well, I'm sure, I'm sure Larry very much appreciates that.
Speaker 7 (31:04):
Yeah, meditations that are done by go ahead.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
Sorry, I'm sorry about that, Tom, continue please, and then
I'll chime in. Go ahead.
Speaker 7 (31:14):
Yeah. Well, the thing is that these trated things that
are going on, and it's happening in different parts of
the country, and the problem is if you have a
couple of cruises there and all of a sudden, there's
one hundred kids around you and they're shooting off Roman
candles and skyrockets and what have you. You're right, a vehicle
can catch on fire and things get out of hand
(31:37):
very quickly. And with regards to those fools running around
with their guy fox masks, those are anarchists. And all
you have to do is understand. You know, a century ago,
what was going on over in Europe and parts of America,
we had anarchists doing the same thing. The officer is
that you know something you need to Tom.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Let me.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
I don't mean to dirupt you, but I want to
get Larry in here for a second. Okay, go ahead, Larry,
you got a feeing in Tom here in West Virginia.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
Yeah. I was going to say thanks for calling from
so far away and being from War ten. You know
what Mission Hill used to be like during the early nineties.
And again I came on in the early nineties, and
yet we had a murderator of over one hundred and
twenty five hundred and fifty and we are now one
of the safest cities in the country. And we're proud
of that because the police department has transformed itself We're
(32:28):
the leader in community policing, We're the leader in training
and professionalism, and we exude that every day. The men
and women on the street do a tremendous job, and
we're actually loved by our general public. You're always going
to have people that don't like you, but overall we
are one of the safest cities. We do a great job,
and things are much different than in the early nineties.
And yes, I'm well acquainted with Paul Evins, who is retired,
(32:51):
was the commissioner, but I have a very good working
relationship with him to this day. He's actually the chief
over at Boston College.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
All right, thanks to appreciate, appreciate the call and the perspective.
Appreciate it. Let me go next real quickly to Steve
and Linfield. Steve, you're on with Larry called their own
president of the Boston Police Patrolman's Association.
Speaker 9 (33:09):
Go ahead, Steeve, Hey, gentlemen, good evenings ahead.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
I turned in tuned in a little bit late to night.
Speaker 9 (33:16):
The woman was on when I tuned in, said when
did this all start? This lawlessness? And if you look
at the schools, there's no more detention. There's restorative justice,
right nobody. There's no accountability for actions starting from when
you're really little. So when you get to be adults
and you get released for minor crimes with no punishment,
(33:38):
were created a society. Sorry, I just sent upstairs. I'm
out of breath. But there's just lawlessness and nobody is
ever held accountable for their actions. Again, it starts in school,
in grammar school, and it goes all the way through
adulthood when we have district attorneys who release people with
the slap on the wrist.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Right, all great points, Stevid. Lets you catch your breath.
I think Larry would agree with you.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
Yeah, Steve again, thanks for Collin, and yes, catch your breath,
and yeah, you're right that times are extremely different. My
phone here is actually going off. Somebody just texted me.
We talk about what they're taught and what kids are
not taught, and where we are politically. But apparently there's
a Virginia Democratic Attorney General candidate j Jones who had
(34:27):
some chilling things to say. Geez, I hate even to
say this on the air. Dan, if this is true, it.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Is true, it is true, he would he at some
point a few years ago, he made a joke about
basically putting two bullets in the head of a Republican
House speaker in the state of Virginia. And that is
a guy the Democrats now running for attorney general in
the state of Virginia. And if the Democrats are smart,
and I hope they are, they will throw him overboard
(34:54):
and find it a better candidate.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
Dan. This one's worse that this one. Again, I don't
if this is true, but I've received this now twice
more cops get killed after being stripped of their legal protection,
they would shoot fewer people. I mean, what kind of
political operative would say something like that. That's just in
the total violence against police officers. So, uh, you know,
(35:19):
stay in Virginia, I guess is what I would say
to that.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Well, you know this, this, this is gonna this is
going to blow up.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
This very well may cost the Democrats a Senate seat
because there's a Senate seat up in November, a US
Senate seat and a governorship and if it does, it'll
serve them.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Correct. This guy is disgusting, absolutely disgusting.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
But you're you're whoever's texting you knows what they're talking about.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
Well, Steve, thank you, and yeah, I don't know what
to say to the to this Uh. I found that appalling,
so I shared it with you. Dan.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
Well again, this at a time when there's just too
much of this stuff going on in actuality, UH, and
too much of this verbal commentary back and forth. It
has to it has to stop in this country. Steve,
thank you very much for your call. I'm gonna I
don't have enough time, Larry. I've got other callers. I'm
(36:11):
going to invite those callers to hang through the ten
o'clock news so that they can. They're both from Boston,
and I'm gonna ask Judy and Rita stay right there,
will continue this conversation.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
Larry has to go back to work in the morning.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
I don't have to go back to work until tomorrow
at eight pm night, so I'll let Larry go. Larry,
thanks so much, and thanks for being the stand up
guy for your membership that you are.
Speaker 4 (36:37):
I appreciate it. Dan, and those two callers, I appreciate
them calling, and especially being from Boston. Hopefully they're in
support of the men and women that are out there
answering the calls for service, because they're the ones that
really need the respect. I'm you know, I'm three decades
old now, and I'm speaking for them, and they're out
there answering the calls and working the doubles and unfortunately
(36:58):
having muli toough cocktail thrown at them in batteries and
so forth. So not the keep standing up for them,
because we're going to so thank you Dan.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
My pleasure.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
Larry called he wrong. We'll talk soon, Larry, Uh, Judy
and Rita. You stay right there because you will lead
us off in the next hour. In the meantime, if
you'd like to join this conversation, this absurdity that took
place not only in Randolph, Middleborough, but West Roxbury and
then a culminated in the South End. This has to
(37:31):
be stopped and you need to, particularly if you're a
Boston resident, you need to speak up because if not,
those in power will bend to the will of the
knuckleheads who think it's a great time to burn a
police car, to immolate a police car.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Uh in the South End at the intersection of.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Mass and Tremont Street, just massav and Tremont back on
Night's side, six one seven, six months seven. I'll be
more than happy to for another hour on this because
they think it's such an important topic back on Night's
side right after this
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