Officials, Residents To Discuss South Boston Safety After Slaying

Shaken by the recent murder of a 67-year-old, allegedly at the hands of a suspect looking to steal fishing equipment to buy drugs, South Boston residents will discuss their concerns about neighborhood safety during a meeting tonight with city and state leaders.

As our Newscast unit reported this morning, Mayor Thomas Menino, state Sen. Jack Hart and City Councilor Bill Linehan called the meeting, following the April 16 fatal stabbing of Barbara Coyne in her home.

"It's about giving information to the public and telling them how they can work with the Boston Police," Menino told Newscast, "and make sure that the courts are doing their job also."

Following the murder, police have cracked down on drug crime in the neighborhood, making more than 20 arrests.

Menino also called for harsher sentences on certain drug criminals.

"We're gonna make sure those hardcore users are punished, because they spread their cancer around the community, and we want them off the streets and put away," he told Newscast.

Hart, speaking to The Boston Globe, said people in South Boston are "concerned" about substance abuse and some resulting crime. According to the Globe, "Hart said there is a plan to establish a 'strike force' that will focus on fighting drug abuse through education, intervention, and enforcement."