It's a scene that's played out in cities around the nation- protests turning into riots devolving into looting and violence against police.
Following the deaths of African Americans at the hands of police officers in Ferguson and Staten Island, Boston was among the places in which protesters brought their actions and their unrest into the streets.
And now comes a threat against officers around the country from gang members, deemed credible by Baltimore police.
Chelsea Police Chief Brian Kyes, who is president of the Massachusetts Major city police chiefs association, alerted other chiefs and sent this email to his own officers, saying in part:
"Please continue to be extremely vigilant during your patrols. We have to be mindful of this issue and for the potential for an unwarranted attack to take place at any time or location."
"There's other individuals that see this and decide you know what I'm going to do this right here in my backyard. And sometimes, if you're not prepared for it, it can take you over like a tidal wave," Kyes said on the phone.
Meanwhile, in Baltimore, the death of Freddie Gray, the questions surrounding the role of police, the disconnect and distrust with officers in the African American community is not just a Baltimore issue according to Boston NAACP president Michael Curry.
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"It could be Boston, it could be New York, anywhere New York. It's America and we have to have that conversation around how we police better," Curry said.
Curry says, so far, recently, Boston has served as a model nationally for de-escalating this type of tension.
"The best of us was the response that BPD had after a recent shooting. It was bringing people in the room, let's have a conversation, let's show you what we know. That's not happening in every other city, actually it's becoming a model for other cities. If there were a shooting tomorrow in Roxbury that was an unjustified, perceived to be excessive force, we would have a Ferguson here. I feel very confident of that," Curry said, adding that he is hopeful, however that with changing laws, votes, taking certain people out of power - Boston could overcome that.
