1999 Annual Report

Sex Offenses

Sex offenses refers to six crimes of a sexual nature: prostitution and solicitation, indecent assault, indecent exposure, peeping & spying, annoying & accosting, and obscene telephone calls. Rape is not included because it is a Part I crime.

Sex Offenses are down 6%, from 194 in 1998 to 193 in 1999

Prostitution is most commonly associated with “streetwalking”—that is, prostitutes working the streets and corners, looking for clients to pick them up in cars. This type of prostitution has long been considered a sign of urban decay and social disorganization. Consequently, the Cambridge Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit has aggressively targeted both “streetwalkers” and “johns” (the streetwalkers’ clients) over the past decade with seasonal stings. Their efforts have nearly eradicated the presence of visible streetwalking in the city of Cambridge, evidenced by the continuing decline.

Arrests of streetwalkers—as opposed to “johns”—were made on several Cambridge streets in 1999, including three sections of Bishop Allen Drive, and two areas of Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square (see map below). The Special Investigations Unit acts immediately on any reports of streetwalking.

Central Square streetwalking locations in 1999.

Less visible, but no less serious, is the type of prostitution that involves high-class escort services, health clubs, or massage parlors fronting for prostitution rings. The Special Investigations  Unit broke up one ring in August of this year. Operating out of a massage parlor/health club on Broadway, two of the employees and a prospective customer were arrested after an undercover detective was sent in. The owners of the massage parlor were well known for running this type of operation and had been arrested before.

In one unusual incident—classified as solicitation because nothing else seems to fit—a man in his 40s approached two male teens at the MDC pool at Magazine Beach and offered to pay them to have sex with an older woman while the man videotaped them. The boys reported the incident to the police, but the suspect never returned, as he said he would, to meet them.

Indecent assault involves the unwanted touching of one person by another in a private area or with sexual overtones. In about 60% of incidents, the offender and victim know each other. Incidents that show that the offender attempted or intended to rape the victim are counted as rapes, not as indecent assaults. In addition, any force or injury would change the type of crime to aggravated assault rather than indecent assault.

The 1999 total was high, although lower than last year’s high. Most of the acquaintance incidents involve an older man taking advantage of a younger girl; some of these were domestic in nature, with the suspect an uncle or a step-father. Several of the reports are also from employees who were harassed by their employers or co-workers. In incidents between July and October, young females in West Cambridge and Peabody were approached from behind and grabbed on the buttocks. This is the most common form of “blitz” style indecent assault, although no real patterns developed this year.

The 61% increase in indecent exposure this year is accompanied by a disturbing trend involving more aggressive behavior than simple “flashing.” In at least 16 cases, a suspect (a different person in each case) was reported to have masturbated in a public place, in front of multiple witnesses.

One would expect that such behavior would be largely confined to intoxicated or mentally ill vagrants—and, indeed, in five cases the suspect was homeless—but in a fair number of incidents, witnesses described the suspect as well-groomed or well-dressed and otherwise respectful. On June 22, for instance, a distinguished looking man in his 50s, wearing a gray suit and carrying a briefcase, walked into a clothing store on Prospect Street, unzipped his pants, and masturbated in front of the employees. He fled before police arrived.

The majority of cases, however, involved homeless or intoxicated people urinating in public places, and a couple concerned residents showing too much indiscretion in front of open windows, or while sunbathing. M.I.T. made two arrests of individuals engaged in sexual activity in restrooms.

Peeping and spying offenders peer through the windows of houses or apartments, generally at night. Some pattern notes from 1999:

·     In January, a suspect was identified in a long-lived pattern in the Peabody neighborhood, in which the peeper would knock on the victims’ windows and then expose himself. Incidents have tapered off in the Peabody area after this suspect was stopped, but a second suspect was responsible for another series in September. A neighborhood man was suspected.

The Peabody neighborhood showed the highest concentration of peeping & spying in 1999.

·     Three incidents were reported on Wendell Street in the first few months of the year. The suspect left evidence behind suggesting that he was trying to enter two of the houses in the area.

·     Towards the end of the second quarter, peeping & spying activity picked up in the Cambridgeport neighborhood. Two arrests—one of a 36-year-old Hardwick Street man who had videotaped a number of women, and one of an 18-year-old Franklin Street man suspected in multiple incidents—were made in July, ending the activity. The Franklin Street man was later arrested for a home invasion rape in the neighborhood.

Cambridgeport peeping & spying picked up in the summer, resulting in two arrests.

·     In late December, two women in West Cambridge reported someone on the fire escape outside their windows. In both cases, the suspect left when the women approached. This pair of incidents began a pattern of suspicious activity, including housebreaks, that continues into 2000.

“Annoying and Accosting a Member of the Opposite Sex” is a form of criminal harassment. Generally, it involves a man repeatedly following, shouting, making off-color suggestions, hooting, repeatedly asking for a date, or otherwise harassing a woman. It happens most often on the street and in the workplace. Each report involves an individual situation; the crime is not subject to geographic patterns.

Obscene telephone calls are as old as the telephone itself, though incidents have been declining for several years, thanks to innovations like Caller ID and advanced call tracing technology.

Back to the 1999 Annual Report Index

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Last Updated: 04/21/00 11:15:05