Boston Blotter: On the Beat

Who knew that Commish Ed Davis' radical new idea of having police officers patrol the streets might actually work? According to the Globe, crime is down in Bowdoin-Geneva, Grove Hall, and Downtown Crossing, where the new beats started.

Since the back-to-basics plan is doing so well, Davis wants to add even more regular foot patrols.

We agree that the Blotter looks slightly less crazy as of late. But we're curious. What happened to the Guardian Angels? They sure went low-profile after one of them got caught with a past record.

--Todd English is probably not very happy right now. A fire broke out at Olives Restaurant last night. No one was hurt, but the fire caused $200,000 in damages. English called that "minimal," and the restaurant will reopen soon.

--A really weird incident went down on Friday in Jamaica Plain. Police were at an address, and they heard a "loud bang." Upon investigation, they ran into a guy who said, "I was just trying to scare ya'll" and that the noise came from a firecracker.

Just trying to scare the cops? Yeah, right. Police noticed blood on the guy's leg and found that he had been handling a gun that accidentally went off and hit him. Elsewhere on the blotter, a good citizen rescued a woman from being strangled on Comm Ave, and police were able to track down the perp.

--The lawyer for Thomas Toolan, the bank exec who allegedly murdered his ex-girlfriend in Nantucket, is saying that Toolan went over the edge because the ex rebuffed his marriage proposal. The lawyer called it "the ultimate rejection" and is also working overtime to establish an insanity case, saying Toolan suffered from booze problems and mental illness.

--In Ashland, two women got caught running an undercover sex operation from the home of a mentally disabled man. Like Vibeke Gonzalez, they got caught because they advertised on Craigslist. Has Craigslist made the life of police officers easier, or what?

Image of Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol from Wikimedia.