Content area
Full Text
Banner Staff
Georgette Watson, a community activist that co-founded the successful "Drop-a-Dime" hotline, died on Aug. 29 in Baltimore.
Born in Philadelphia, Watson and the Rev. Brace Wall, pastor of Global Ministries Christian Church in Codman Square, started the hotline in 1983. They launched the citizen-based organization in her Dorchester home, beginning with a single telephone and answering machine. The founders asked community members to call the hotline and give detailed information about illegal activity. From there, reports were collected and passed on to the police.
Thanks to the anonymity afforded callers and its promise of confidentiality, Drop-a-Dime became an integral link between a community afraid of reporting crimes for fear of retaliation and a Boston police force eager for more community cooperation.
Joseph Carter, then-Boston Police Department superintendent and chief of the BPD's special operations bureau, said at the time that Drop-a-Dime was "one of the most worthwhile and positive relationships that I've had with a community grassroots organization involved with abating crime activity."