Going into the New Year’s weekend, homicides in Boston had jumped to 46 over the 2015 count of 38, according to figures issued by the Boston Police Department, which also noted that overall measures of major crimes were down across the neighborhood.

Capt. Tim Connolly, commander at District C-11, said that 11 of the murders occurred in District C-11, where there were four in 2015.

Connolly, who took up his post in early April, replacing Capt. Richard Sexton, who has served in the position for seven years, discussed his district’s work in an end-of-year review with the Reporter this week.

As residents know too well, shootings shook the neighborhood throughout the year. The third homicide of 2016, that of 19-year-old Alvin Sealy, occurred in the middle of the night on Washington Street in late January. Three people were wounded and 17-year-old Raekwon Brown was killed in a shooting just outside the Jeremiah E. Burke High School in June, for which three men were charged. Two men are accused of shooting 41-year-old Shawn Borden 15 times as he vacuumed his car on Dorchester Avenue in October. And police are still investigating the fatal Dec. 12 mid-afternoon shooting of a man in his 20s on Bullard Street.

Police have been working to stem the flood of opioids in the neighborhoods, Connolly said. “We’ve had a couple of undercover operations. We have an epidemic with heroin through the country and it exists in Dorchester as well.”

Notably, police and Drug Enforcement Agency officials cracked down on a used car lot on Hancock Street in mid-December that was being used as a heroin-distribution location for a large drug ring. Police from across barracks C-11, B-2, and C-6 have also worked to clean up street-level dealing in Edward Everett Square. 

Police and neighborhood peace walks, along with regular community outreach efforts, continued throughout the year. A trauma-focused rally organized by the main streets and public health groups around Four Corners had a “good mix of people,” Connolly said. “They were at least just talking, saying we’re not going to stand for it any more. Some cried. Some were in pain.”

Homicides were among just a few metrics to rise since last year, Connolly noted. Domestic aggravated assaults rose from 126 to 142, and commercial burglary reports were up for the year, to 63 from 41.

On the down side were residential burglaries (279 from 282), robberies and attempted robberies (192 from 236), and rape and attempted rape (26 from 37).

In cases of breaking and entering, particularly, the captain said, the district will see jumps in activity clearly associated with the same individuals.

Overall, “I’m comfortable with the arrests we’re making” Connolly told the Reporter while sitting in an unmarked car on Dorchester Avenue, where a series of early-morning armed commercial robberies have traumatized shopkeepers.

A masked man believed to have an accomplice waiting in a car outside had robbed the Mass Food Mart at 1732 Dorchester Ave. on Tuesday morning, hey said. The perpetrators are believed to have robbed O’Brien’s Market at 1660 Dorchester Ave. twice in November, also in the morning.

Community input is vital in solving most crimes, Connolly said. “The more information we get from the community, whether from an eyewitness or a camera, the more we can do with it,” he said. “Even if the information seems insignificant.”

Civic outreach has been a hallmark of his tenure so far, he added. He is a regular face at the meetings of some 50 civic associations across Dorchester, where he briefs attendees on crime statistics and specific initiatives. Coming into his post, he said, “I didn’t expect this strong civic association [network] to be so caring,” he said. “They really impressed me.”

The captain has prioritized the reduction of youth violence, building relationships with business, improving quality of life, addressing traffic while acknowledging the uphill battle for which he wishes he had a magic wand, and dealing with problem properties.

Looking ahead, Connolly said he plans to continue initiatives like the district’s work with local clergy and other community leaders, youth bootcamps, and outreach to violent offenders. He is being helped in that effort by an advisory council of about 40 residents, business owners, and neighborhood leaders that meets monthly.

“We’re going to keep continuing what we are doing,” he said. “What we’re doing seems to be working, so I think that we’re going in the right direction.”