Excerpt from Sixty-Third Annual Report of the Police Department, City of Boston, 1968

Quality police service in Boston depends upon police responsiveness to neighborhood concerns and priorities.

Our relations with the community are primarily dependent upon the quality of the police response to calls for service. If Boston Police do our job well, if we respond quickly to all citizen calls for assistance, and if we perform efficiently when we do arrive, then we have performed the job for which we were hired.

Our department is realistic about what it can achieve, we admit mistakes and problems, and attempt sincere efforts to keep the community informed about our activities. We must be responsible to the people since police improvement can only be achieved if the public understands and supports such change.

The police role cannot be characterized by one or two simple tasks. Rather the role of the police in this country is far more varied and complex than is commonly recognized. Especially in the congested areas of our large cities public demands for police service are constantly increasing and involving many more tasks not formerly the responsibility of the police.

Many officers have come to see much of their work as social work. Often they are called upon to intervene in situations that seem unrelated to law enforcement but if not skillfully dealt with, can result in serious injury to the officers involved, and may eventually become a serious crime.

Indeed, it is the wide range of non-crime related services which may well provide the major impact upon the livability of the city and the ability of the citizens to deal with the crisis of urban living.

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