At Plymouth Avenue and Rodman Street, a panhandler has been selling bottled water and, Police Chief Kelly Furtado said, being aggressive with drivers — the kind of thing that, she said, could put people in fear.

“I actually addressed him myself,” Furtado said. “If I’m out and about, and there’s an issue somewhere … I’m not going to call for a cruiser. I’m not that far from being in a cruiser.”

To Furtado, this is part of the philosophy of community policing — running a department not only driven by major crimes and big scores, but the smaller, day-to-day issues that make people feel unsafe.

Read more at heraldnews.com.