Letters to the editor

Re: “Moving out of the South End, furious residents fed up with drug use and crime,” Oct. 26 ). As a retired Boston Police Officer, I noted with irony that a South End resident had complained that “The city has not maintained consistent law and order…this is no place to raise a family.” Over the years, as many progressive liberals moved to the South End, dedicated BPD Officers tried to enforce “quality of life” crimes, including public drug and alcohol use, vagrancy, trespassing and the growing number of mentally ill, homeless people infiltrating the South End. For their efforts, these officers were often derided as “racist” and accused of being “heavy-handed, jack-booted thugs” by the progressive South End residents. Consequently and in response, the police pulled back and stopped enforci