--Well, if the homicide rate jumps to 36, and it's only July, maybe it's time to make some changes in management. Commish Ed "Pragmatist" Davis has removed homicide chief Daniel Coleman and superintendent for the Bureau of Investigative Services Paul Joyce Jr. from their posts. Replacing them will be Thomas Lee at homicide and Bruce Hollaway for Investigative Services.

In another move, Davis moved his chief of staff, Daniel Linskey, to be the head of regular patrol operations. Linskey's first job should be to increase patrols since they did seem to be having a positive impact.

The Globe's piece on the BPD shake-up also noted that Davis might be purging the department of petty, high-school behavior: "The changes effectively end a long-running feud between the investigative and patrol branches that some observers say virtually crippled the department under former Commissioner Kathleen M. O'Toole." Now, we don't know the full story, but if silly "feuds" were exhausting the resources of the BPD while the body count was rising, then we're glad Davis made these moves.

--Four-year-old Christian Frechette drowned in a Sturbridge lake yesterday during a community recreation program. Lifeguards were on duty at the time, but Frechette still drowned in 3 feet of water.

--Update from BPD Blotter: Smokin' weed and drinkin' Hennessey in public is common in music videos, but police will still arrest you for it in real life. And throwing stuff all over a store will definitely attract police attention. Or, in BPD parlance, it is "never a good idea."

Whether he's got a mustache or not, you don't mess around with Ed.