CAMBRIDGE POLICE DEPARTMENT

1997 Annual Crime Report

HATE CRIMES

"Hate Crime" is the common term for federal and state Civil Rights Violations. Hate crimes include any crimes principally motivated by hatred of another because of race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, handicap status, or gender. All hate crimes would still be crimes even if the bias motivation were absent; therefore, each hate crime listed below is tallied elsewhere in this report, under assault, threats, and other headings.

In 1997, eight crimes were reported in Cambridge that could be classified as a "hate crimes" under the definition above:

1. On March 7 at 8:50 p.m., an MIT student was walking down Charles Street when four males, hurling racial epithets, piled out of a hatchback, threw the victim to the ground, and began punching and kicking him. This crime was classified as an unprovoked aggravated assault.

2. On April 23 at 3:30 p.m., a Chelsea woman was exiting the Lechmere MBTA station when a man in his 30s grabbed her arms, shouted obscene comments and racial slurs, and pushed her down the street. This crime was coded as an unprovoked simple assault.

3. On May 13 at 3:55 p.m., a Norwell teenager was walking down Massachusetts Avenue between Central and Harvard Squares when he was approached by a group of five older teenagers who uttered slurs against his perceived sexual orientation and punched him several times in the face. This incident was coded as an unprovoked simple assault.

4. On September 21, an unseen person forced entry into an Inman Street apartment, trashed the interior, stole a computer and a stereo, overturned furniture, and wrote anti-gay epithets on the walls. This crime was classified as a residential burglary.

5. On October 7 at around 8:30 p.m., an unseen person scratched racial epithets into the front door of the office at Corcoran Park. This incident was coded as a malicious destruction of property.

6. On October 15 at 9:00 a.m., a Mount Auburn Street resident found a note tacked to some lumber with which he planned to build a Jewish succoth. The note threatened to "get" the succoth, denoting violence and arson. This crime was categorized as a threat to commit a crime.

7. On November 4 at 5:47 p.m., an intoxicated man entered the food kitchen of a church on Church Street, yelled a racial epithet at one of the workers there, and threatened to stab him. This incident was coded as a threat to commit a crime.

8. On December 1 at 11:45 p.m., two women walking through Central Square were suddenly subjected to screaming, anti-gay remarks, threatening, and shoving by a Woburn man. Bystanders intervened and the suspect went away. The crime was categorized as an unprovoked simple assault.

The Police Department's Major Crimes Unit is currently investigating these crimes.

In 1996, the ten reported hate crimes included four aggravated assaults, two malicious destruction incidents, two threats to commit crimes, one episode of verbal harassment, and one robbery. Seven were motivated by race or national origin, two by religion, and one by sexual orientation.

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