1998 Annual Report
Sexual Crimes
1998 marks the first year the Cambridge Police Department has included a special section on crimes of a sexual nature in the Annual Crime Report. This section was prompted by several patterns that hit areas of the city over the year.
The term "sexual crimes" refers to five offenses of a sexual nature:
Prostitution and Solicitation 14 in 1996 l 23 in 1997 l 18 in 1998
Prostitution is most commonly associated with "streetwalking"-that is, prostitutes working the street 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" over the past decade with seasonal stings. Their efforts have nearly eradicated the presence of visible streetwalking in the city of Cambridge.
One such sting was conducted on the night of July 23, 1998. A Special Investigations detective posing as a streetwalker effected the arrest of nine men-most from other cities and towns-in the 200 block of Massachusetts Avenue.
Arrests of streetwalkers-as opposed to "johns"-were made on Washington Street in April, on Third Street in May, and on Bishop Allen Drive in July. All three arrests followed complaints of neighborhood residents. The Special Investigations Unit acts immediately on any reports of streetwalking.
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 broke up two rings operating out of health clubs on Main Street and Broadway in January. In August, the unit arrested two women from an escort service who were leading their clients to a room at an East Cambridge hotel.
Indecent Assault 17 in 1996 l 24 in 1997 l 40 in 1998
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 1998 total was high and, contrary to the norm, 65% were committed by strangers. Among these were two patterns that struck the Mid-Cambridge neighborhood, one between March and April; the other between August and November. In the first pattern, a young male approached women around Broadway near Harvard Square in the early evening. He would ask for 85 cents to catch the train, then grab them inappropriately. The Harvard University Police Department arrested a subject for this crime on April 16 and the pattern ceased.
The second pattern struck between August and October and involved areas of southern Mid-Cambridge between Harvard Square and Central Square. In these cases, a male suspect in his 20s would approach women walking down the street from behind, during the day, and grab them. Suspect descriptions were different enough to suggest that not all crimes were the work of the same person, but most of them probably were. None of the victims suffered physical injury. The last incident was reported on November 20; no one was arrested or identified as a suspect.
Indecent Exposure 28 in 1996 l 34 in 1997 l 31 in 1998
Indecent exposure crimes generally fall into three classifications: "flashers," who deliberately expose themselves to unsuspecting passers-by; homeless or "street" people who urinate in public places; and people who simply show too little indiscretion in front of an open window or while sunbathing. In 1998, we had 21 flashers, seven homeless exposers, and three indiscretion reports.
In 1998, we had several patterns, all in the "flasher" category.
Two reports in January and February for a man exposing himself in a grassy area outside of the Alewife MBTA station.
Two reports in May and June of a man following women from the CambridgeSide Galleria to their cars and exposing himself.
Three incidents on December 7 in which a man driving around Cambridgeport and Area 4 kept getting out of his car and exposing himself. Police responded and arrested a 36-year-old man from Scarborough, Maine.
In about half of "flasher" incidents, the offender was seen exposing himself in or next to his car. When arrested, flashers are very often intoxicated, under the influence of narcotics, or mentally disturbed.
See the Peeping & Spying section below for another series that included indecent exposures.
Peeping & Spying 13 in 1996 l 17 in 1997 l 31 in 1998
Peeping and spying offenders peer through the windows of houses or apartments, generally at night. Two series of this crime surfaced in 1998:
In early spring, a man was reported peeping into five windows around the Lesley College area, looking at female residents. An Agassiz area man was arrested.
The second series struck residential neighborhoods between Porter Square and Danehy Park. It began in early September and continued all the way until the end of the year. The offender would look through the windows of male residents. In most cases, he would knock on the windows. When the resident came to the window, he would see the suspect standing outside exposing himself. In a few cases, the suspect spoke to the victim, making obscene comments. After a car was seen leaving the scene in the most recent incident, on Frost Street on January 21, 1999, Somerville Police stopped and identified a suspect-a man in his 20s from the Peabody neighborhood. The investigation into this series continues.
Annoying & Accosting 39 in 1996 l 25 in 1997 l 28 in 1998
"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.