Crime reported

[dcloud4.livejournal.com]

The corner of Holland and Paulina Street was the spot of a mugging on Tuesday night at around 10:30 p.m.  Two young males followed one guy as he walked from Teele Square to Davis.  A gun was pulled and a phone and wallet were stolen.  

Do not walk around with an iPhone at night, it's just asking for trouble.  Holland street has been a scary place lately.  Teele is pretty much off limits at night as far as I'm concerned.  

Comments

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

I live in Teele...why do you think it is off limits at night? What else has happened lately besides this?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

I ate way too much at Rudy's. It was a pretty bad scene.

[geekpixie.livejournal.com]

I <3 this comment. Seriously, I walk up from Davis a great deal to get home, and have never had an issue, aside from being mowed down by drunk tufts students (walking), of course.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Seriously? I just walked around ROME with an iPhone at night. Be discreet with whatever you're carrying and act purposefully and with an eye on the things around you.

[omg-anna.livejournal.com]

Same here, except it was Berlin. I agree with everything you said.

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

Teele Square and Somerville in general are very safe places. This is one incident in one day (thousands of people walk through that area every night). People shouldn't have a false sense of fear.

It is always a good idea to be aware of your surroundings and to cautious, but we live in a very safe community.

[tamalinn.livejournal.com]

yup.

[snoopymel.livejournal.com]

Oh that's scary. I used to live right there and felt pretty safe. People have to be really smart NOT to use their cell phone while walking alone at night too. You should always be aware of your surroundings. If you're alone, try to find a couple or group of people to tag along with for safety (and tell them what you're doing so you don't freak them out!)

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's the iPhone that got the person mugged. I have an iPhone and I walk everywhere I go with it, Boston, NYC, etc...if someone's going to mug you, they're going to mug you, regardless of what kind of phone you have.

Just don't let anyone get close to you at night.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

...

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

It always seems to me that the correct response to increased muggings in an area shouldn't be people avoiding that area, it should be people going out of their way to walk there (ideally in groups) so the muggers no longer have privacy on their side.

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

ding ding ding ding ding! We have a winner!

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

with samurai swords :)

#

[elusiveat.livejournal.com]

Yep.

[lizzielizzie.livejournal.com]

b0st0n mob meetup in Teele Square? Let's be around the square in groups,watching stuff, and generally make it unfriendly for muggers. :-D

Really? It's what I always say...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

To end all wars, all soldiers should just quit. The problem is that the first ones to quit will be court-martialed, nobody wants to go first and sacrifice for the cause, and so nothing happens.

[ron_newman]

I routinely walk between Davis and Teele and certainly don't intend to stop doing so because of one incident, however bad. (But I don't own a cellphone or anything else worth stealing from my person.)

[forgotten-aria.livejournal.com]

I've been held up by knife point (not in somerville, in cambrdige.) People blamed ME for walking at the wrong time or the wrong place, or as you are doing, holding the wrong things. I don't think that's right. I think that what these people steal isn't money or our iphone, but our security and freedom.

Crime happens and sure we shouldn't be stupid, but we also shouldn't let it take away our freedom to walk in our own city. Make sure the caution and fear you add to your pysche is proportional to the actual risk. How likely is it to happen to you? Probably not very likely.

Somerville is a pretty safe town. It's not perfect but it's pretty damn good given how densely packed it is.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Thanks for saying this. I was a bit irked by what sounded like a victim-blaming attitude in this post.

[miss-lisa-ma.livejournal.com]

This! Yay!

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

I agree with your comment, but wonder where is the dividing line - we tell people whose cars are broken into "Don't leave anything valuable in sight".

That's an okay thing to say, it seems (and I had it happen to me).

But I think it's fairly obvious that if the interaction with the criminal occurs personally, it's victim blaming.

Is that the dividing line?
Not saying it's wrong or right, just asking, because that's what it looks like to me: if you were physically present in the situation (and thus, in danger), no blame is attributable to you, nor should any be.

[geekpixie.livejournal.com]

People tend to be/feel more guilty if people are present. Leaving an electronic in a car, visible, is a crime of opportunity, no one is watching, no one gets hurt (aside from your insurance policy and the car) so they snag it. If someone has the stones to physically threaten you for your belongings, it's typically just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Though if you're walking along waving a wad of cash talking about how you have all that cash, you'd deserve it. ;)

[acidgalore.livejournal.com]

What surprises me the most is the location: Holland Street is pretty busy, there's always car and foot traffic. Muggers have been pretty bold, I guess. I walk on the bikepath from Davis to North Cambridge pretty regularly, and have been feeling safe at night. This incident, though, is kinda unnerving.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

No, not really. Holland and Paulina is right where the parking office is: it's between streetlights, IIRC. Of course, it's also not Teele Square...

[rethcir.livejournal.com]

Teele Square != South Central LA.

[duffless2323.livejournal.com]

As a teele resident, please clarify your meaning about Teele being off limits. What are you referring to?

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

My guess is that the poster is reacting out of fear to a report of a nearby crime, which has now suddenly made the neighborhood appear like a terrifying war zone.

It's an understandable reaction--humans as a group aren't good about risk calculations--but Teele Square is hardly an off-limits high-crime zone, and nor is the iPhone some kind of mugger magnet.

[thewrongbloke.livejournal.com]

If you're interested in keeping track of these things, the Somerville Journal police log posts a thorough listing every couple of weeks. Here's the most recent (9/15/09): http://www.wickedlocal.com/somerville/news/police_and_fire/x402526125/Somerville-Police-Crime

If you read this regularly for several months you may be surprised by the activity. I believe an incident like the original post describes would be recorded as "robbery" and they are surprisingly rare. Vehicle break-ins, on the other hand, are extremely common. Everything else seems about average to my untrained eye.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

As a resident of Broadway who can see both Teele Square and the local housing projects from my front window (with the screens up and my head sticking out ;-)), I'd have to say that this area has a distinct lack of sketchiness even at night. There is the occasional argument at this one house a few houses down from mine but other than that it's not like I see people get into fights or cars get broken into or anything like that. Your chances of being hit by a car on your way to Teele Square from anywhere else are probably an order of magnitude higher than being mugged here.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I live VERY close to some housing projects, and I don't even hear a blasting stereo.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Hey, I bet you live around the corner from me... Is that one house a kind of light green?

[m00n.livejournal.com]

It's next to the light green house if I recall correctly. To the left of it. I believe the light green house you're referring to is the one that became light green recently when all of the siding was replaced (it used to be brown).

It's hard to tell of course because said neighbors are usually out on the sidewalk making their scene, rather than on their own lot.

[boywonder.livejournal.com]

Don't forget that the new Somerville police substation is right in Teele. Although, I rarely ever see anyone in there at night...

I've lived here for many many years. I think this post is a little hysterical, in a paranoid sense of the word. Living in a city means bad things will occasionally happen to some people. Saying Holland St is a very scary place lately has no merit however. Unless you're witholding some information the rest of the community isn't aware of?

[tt02144.livejournal.com]

While people should not have a false sense of fear, they should also not have a false sense of security. Somerville is indeed a very safe place, however, it also has a HUGE drug problem right now which noone is admitting/addressing. Hence there will be random crimes....often all they need is a cell phone or an ipod to get what they need.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Somerville is indeed a very safe place, however, it also has a HUGE drug problem right now which noone is admitting/addressing.

Errrr...what? Sure, there are drugs and drug dealers, but no more so than anywhere else. The Somerville police aren't corrupt or lightweights, either.