Attacked by a pack of tweens near Stony Brook

It's why Neighbors For Neighbors got started - people in Stony Brook were tired of getting mugged on their way home. And every time the weather gets warm, we see the same pattern - group of 2-3 people gang up on someone using a phone. The response is the same: police shrug, say "don't use your phone", and politely suggest that there's no point to taking a report (and indeed, nothing gets recorded unless you INSIST on filing a report. You'll get harangued with questions like "so what do you want to do?" and "if this goes to court, will you testify?", while shooting a doubtful look at you.

Why do they do this? Because discouraging you from filing a police report keeps the crime stats down.

Go through the newspaper archives and you'll see that JP residents put a stop to it one time by getting pepper spray, at (this may be a shock) BPD's suggestion; they actually invited people to get the Firearm Identification Cards at the stationhouses. Now, it's "be a good little defenseless sheep." They'll teach you self defense, but only women (despite the fact that, overwhelmingly, property and violent crime victims are men.)

People have been getting attacked on the bike path for more than a decade - shoved off their bikes and then mugged while dazed and confused. Happened a month or two ago.

Until Boston Police or the State Police patrol SWC more (and in plain clothes), things won't change; it's seen as a nice little shopping market for hoodlums, just a few stops down the orange line, or a short walk from Egleston.

BPD and MSP are more interested in juris-my-dick-tion than anything else...get mugged on the SWC, and you have to wait for 20 minutes for a cop to drive up from the barracks in...Danvers, or something.

It not just a Boston problem.The Patriot Ledger reports that yesterday an MBTA worker was beaten badly at North Quincy by a group of students. The Ledger further reports that muggings and stabbings are on the rise in and around T stations. The incident was caught on video according to police.

Similar incident happened a couple of years ago on Carolina. Nothing taken; just an opportunity to beat up a man. This and the previous incident may have been gangbanger initiations. The person in the car watching the incident may have been the judge of whether the children actually beat up DJ Knife.

It is sad that no one came to help. When a man was mugged in my street recently several neighbors came out to help. One provided a phone to call the police, others provided support as they could. What was the man who was mugged doing? Carrying groceries.

While texting or talking on the phone effectively waves a flag saying "mug me," I believe that the larger problem is that there are children who want to be in gangs and so have to prove their worth as gangbangers.