“We’ve got zero tolerance for this stuff,” said Healey, a Democrat and former state attorney general, speaking at a State House briefing Thursday afternoon. “Zero tolerance. And as shown by this past weekend’s efforts, we’ll find you. We’ll hold you accountable.”
She said officers issued 232 civil citations, 74 warnings, and 20 criminal summonses; they made seven arrests; and they towed 15 vehicles and seized two more. They also recovered a stolen car.
The governor announced $14 million in grants to support traffic enforcement and stop illegal activity. She said the recipients include 200 local police departments and 10 state agencies.
Her announcement followed remarks from Trump on Tuesday, when the president said he could have the 2026 World Cup games relocated if he feels there are “unsafe conditions” due to the takeovers.
Trump has also threatened to send the National Guard and federal law enforcement agencies into various cities he deems unsafe, especially places with Democrats in charge. He hasn’t announced plans to deploy troops in Boston, but state leaders have been preparing to challenge a deployment if he does.
Officials have tied the street takeovers to similar incidents in other cities over the past few years. Drivers at the events perform high-speed stunts while others movie and block traffic. In several cases earlier this month, the local events turned dangerous.
Officials said the takeovers are not new, but they need to stop.
Police chiefs from Brockton and Fall River joined state leaders for the Thursday announcement, saying their cities have been impacted by the trend.
Brockton Police Chief Brenda Perez said one of the department’s officers was injured during a recent gathering.
“These are not car enthusiasts who gather on a Saturday morning in a parking lot to share their passion for automobiles,” said Fall River Police Chief Kelly Furtado. “These are organized groups whose purpose is to cause chaos and disruption.”
State Police Colonel Geoffrey Noble said investigators are actively probing any possible connections between the street takeovers and other criminal enterprises. The gatherings present a challenge for responding officers, he said, because they don’t want a bunch of motorists fleeing the scene at high speeds.
“Our primary mission is to prevent these from occurring before they happen,” he said.
Street takeovers are considered a national problem, according to the Police Executive Research Forum, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. The phenomenon was accelerated by social media during the pandemic, when city streets cleared out, according to the research group.
Social media posts about the Oct. 4 and 5 gatherings in Massachusetts referred to the events as “Return to Mass.”
Footage posted on Instagram shows a mostly masked crowd shooting fireworks, with passengers hanging out of the windows of rapidly spinning cars, spectators coming dangerously close to record the scenes, and others hitting and blocking police cruisers. Some people were shown wearing bright yellow vests, apparently to serve as traffic enforcers.
A takeover in Fall River, which drew about 200 people, shut down a road and forced an ambulance to reroute while responding to a call, officials have said.
Healey gave an example of a planned meetup Saturday that was thwarted when police arrested a person posting online about it. She described a dual role for law enforcement: responding to serious crimes as well as addressing quality of life issues.
But in response to a question about Trump’s recent comments about the World Cup games, Healey said it’s “just more political theater” from the president. She said authorities have already done a tremendous amount of public safety planning in advance of the event.
“Another day, another Donald Trump comment,” she said. “You’ve got to understand what that is.”
Travis Andersen of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.
Lea Skene can be reached at lea.skene@globe.com. Follow her on X @lea_skene.
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