PARTNERS AGAINST CRIME

A SURGE IN GUN violence and open-air drug dealing drew strong police
presence to the Bowdoin Street and Geneva Avenue areas of Dorchester this
week, where officers arrested 22 men on a variety of charges. Ministers in
the area are now planning a sweep of their own for midweek, when they hope
to collar young men and give them printed and verbal messages emphasizing
that church leaders are supporting future police crackdowns.

There is an air of anxiety in parts of Dorchester, where two men died by
gunfire at the recent Caribbean Carnival and the sound of weapons fire
echoes again. The Rev. Eugene Rivers, founder of the Baker House social
service center, said he walked the streets after the Aug. 2 shooting of
Dwayne Taylor on the 500 block of Washington Street. And it didn't feel good.

''It was the first time the city felt like 1991 to me,'' he said, referring
to the year when handgun shootings hit their peak in Boston.

The elements that helped to reduce violence in Boston over the past decade
- - careful coordination between local and federal law enforcement officials,
an engaged clergy, and an aggressive program of street workers - have lost
some of their edge. The timing couldn't be worse as the adolescent
population swells and cheap guns find their way into willing young hands.

There have been 42 homicides in Boston this year - more than all of last
year. Boston's partners against crime are needed urgently again.