by Susan M. Danseyar
A mother of seven spoke about crime in her neighborhood during the Sept. 21 contributors meeting of The Alewife held at the back table of Porter Square Books.
“Recently, there have been some very serious incidents,” said Nancy H. Erdmann, who moved with her husband, Anthony, and their seven children to Pemberton Street a little over a year ago. “The residents are upset and looking to police for leadership.”
Erdmann said there have been robberies, assaults and shootings in her neighborhood. She has attended several safety meetings to voice her concerns. On Sept. 14, she joined about 50 parents and residents at a meeting held at the Peabody School where Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert C. Haas and a number of officers discussed crime that occurred in the past few months.
During the meeting, people told the police about a number of incidents including a shooting on Middlesex Street. A woman was washing her dishes and, when she heard the sound of a gun, hit her kitchen floor and remained there – terrified – for a few minutes. Residents also reported two shootings and a stabbing at the intersection of Rindge Avenue and Clifton Street, a number of businesses on Mass Avenue having windows smashed, a man on a bicycle being knocked down by a group of teenagers, a woman in Jefferson Park whose car was badly jostled and kicked by a group of kids while she and her daughter were in it, a person holding people up at gunpoint on the way to and from the Alewife station and a number of stolen bicycles, she said.
Erdmann said residents appreciated the fact that the police department held the meeting and answered questions. Police, she said, told people that making arrests is a difficult process because it’s hard to gather evidence, track down the suspect and find witnesses to testify.
“The police said they want to hear from residents more often and the residents said they want to hear from the police more often,” Erdmann said. “I think it was clear that the residents who attended the Sept. 14 meeting really want close and good relations with the Cambridge Police Department. Leadership and a coherent plan, which would not require waiting months or longer, were what my neighbors at the meeting were looking and asking for.”
Erdmann said the people who attended the meeting are concerned, involved, committed and articulate and are looking for effective leadership and a common-sense approach to putting out a strong message that anti-social and criminal acts are not going to be so easy to get away with in the future.
She said one of the biggest issues discussed at the meeting was having information more readily available to residents rather than going in person to look at the police blotter, calling police, seeing them in person or trying to find specific information on the Cambridge Police Department Web site.
“I felt more frightened after the meeting when I learned more information,” Erdmann said. “Five of my children go to the Peabody School and two go to Cambridge Rindge and Latin. They have friends all around and bike and walk during the daylight.”
She said the idea of shootings in the neighborhood seem unbelievable and unacceptable to her but she realizes that it is a fact.
Erdmann said steps are being taken which she appreciates such as the bicycle police officers and officers talking and walking among the kids. Looking back on what Haas said at the meeting, however, she wonders if the Cambridge Police Department has the resources they need to make a dent in the situation.
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