Crime alert from Somerville Police Department

[ron_newman]

I just received this both as a robo-call and an e-mail:

This is Deputy Chief Paul Upton of the Somerville Police Department with an important community safety message for residents of West Somerville, and in the vicinity of Red Line MBTA stations. Last Sunday evening, at about 11:00 p.m., a woman who was walking home from the Porter Square MBTA station, was indecently assaulted. She reported that in the vicinity of Summer Street and Belmont Street, she heard footsteps behind her. As she turned around, an unknown white male knocked her to the ground and indecently assaulted her. The victim was able to pepper spray her assailant causing him to cease his attack and flee the area.

The suspect is described as a white male, 20 to 25 years old, 5 feet 6 inches tall, medium build, brown hair, clean shaven and was wearing a white shirt and shorts.

Although we believe this to be an isolated incident, we want to alert residents, especially women, who may be walking in this area, to be especially vigilant. We encourage women to take common sense precautions, be aware of their surroundings and avoid distractions such as headphones and Ipods. If you carry a cell phone, keep it in an easily accessible place.

The Somerville Police Department is working jointly with other police agencies to identify and apprehend this suspect as quickly as possible.

If you see anyone who is acting suspicious in this area, please do not hesitate to call 911.

Comments

[pakoo.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Yes, thank you for posting this. I also got those calls.

One more thing: I'm glad the city sends us these emails and robocalls, but this (allegedly) happened on Sunday night. This is THURSDAY.

Assuming this was reported immediately, why do we not get a robocall at 7am on Monday morning?

[ron_newman]

I would not want the city to robo-call at 7 am for any reason other than an extreme emergency, like a tornado warning.

[dial-zero.livejournal.com]

This (from wickedlocal Somerville) really annoyed me: "Although we believe this to be an isolated incident, we want to alert residents, especially women, who may be walking in this area, to be especially vigilant," Upton said in the alert. [fine so far...] "We encourage women to take common sense precautions, be aware of their surroundings and avoid distractions such as headphones and Ipods. If you carry a cell phone, keep it in an easily accessible place."

The vast majority of women DO take commonsense precautions, thanks, since we are constantly reminded that if we are assaulted, it is always our fault. Sounds like the victim in this case was prepared and alert, she was able to access and use pepper spray for crying out loud. Sometimes you just need to get home from the friggin T at 11:00. Place the blame on the ATTACKER.

[darxus.livejournal.com]

Keep your cell phone easily accessible so you can call in real quick after you get raped. No encouragement for being able to defend yourself by carrying pepper spray, even though they even said that's how she got him to "cease his attack". And pepper spray requires a permit in this state.

That pisses me off.

But you can pick up the application at your police department and getting the permit should be no problem.

Or you can get the application here: http://www.mass.gov/Eeops/docs/chsb/firearms/Resident_LTC_FID_Application_20100315

And pepper spray can be conveniently concealed in your hand. And / or on your keychain.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Nope, that's not it at all. From the point of view of, say, police and military circles, there's reams of literature and training about being alert to one's environment. Try Googling "situational awareness" or "Cooper's colors". It's not about who's fault it is, it's about evading danger to begin with.

[scarletdulcinea.livejournal.com]

My thoughts exactly, since I did late night walking in that area on both Tuesday and Wednesday night. I'm ALWAYS vigilant, but, y'know.

[dial-zero.livejournal.com]

But they are implying, by issuing the advice, that the victim wasn't using common sense or evading danger, when clearly she was (pepper spray--not many people carry it, the fact that she was carrying it and able to access it shows that she has thought about danger to some degree). Does using common sense mean all women should be safely locked inside as soon as it's dark? If so, wouldn't you agree our society is really fucked up, and more attention needs to be paid to THAT, instead of whether or not someone was using an ipod when they were attacked?

[turil.livejournal.com]

They are not implying anything. They are merely suggesting options for people who might want to protect themselves. Not protecting yourself isn't a reason to hold you responsible for an attack, as the attacker is responsible regardless, but protecting yourself will make your own life better if you are able to stay safer. So it's up to you what you want to do. They are just giving you options.

[turil.livejournal.com]

"indecently assaulted"?

That sounds suspiciously like one of those things that might be more likely a case of misunderstanding and bad timing, rather than an actual intent to harm someone. Like maybe the guy was flirting with her and thought she was into it, and playfully jumped on her to kiss her or something else similarly romantic in one situation, and scary in another, depending on the timing.

Without more details, it's impossible to tell.

[dial-zero.livejournal.com]

Here are some messages that I (and most other women) have absorbed since we were girls: Don't walk alone at night, or any other time. Don't go in certain neighborhoods at all. Carry your purse strap across your chest. Have your keys and phone in your hand. Don't wear a ponytail. Don't look too sexy or girly (but don't look too butch, or someone might rape you to make you straight). Don't look too dowdy. Don't wear certain shoes (but actually, DO wear certain shoes, because being sexy is of the utmost importance). Don't look unsure of yourself (but don't look TOO assertive, or someone will take it as a challenge to take you down a peg). Don't look distracted. Don't wear headphones. Don't sit in your car and dawdle after shopping. Don't leave your drink unattended. Don't talk to strange men (but if they talk to you, respond with a smile and sweetness to whatever they say. but if this leads to someone stalking and attacking you, it's your fault for talking to them. so ignore them. and if this leads to getting harassed or attacked for being an "uptight bitch," guess what, it's your fault). If it seems someone is following you, duck into a store. Don't take the same bus route home every day. Don't live alone.

I could go on--these are just the ones off the top of my head!!! We are CONSTANTLY receiving messages about how to protect ourselves. We don't need idiotic police statements telling us to use "common sense" when, since birth, we have been receiving messages about how to act/not act! Of course I don't walk around thinking, "It's unfair that I have to live my entire life in fear, so f--- it! I'll do what I want, and if I get attacked, it's the attacker's fault, not mine!" My point is, most women use all the "common sense" tactics that the police mentioned, plus MANY MORE, because we live in a rape culture. Only a complete idiot would think that telling women to "be aware of their surroundings" is new information.

Whenever you give out assault prevention tactics, you are laying the groundwork for victim blaming; I would say that victim blaming is implicit in any list of prevention tactics. Disregard one of the thousands of little things you're not supposed to do? You were being reckless, and could have avoided your assault.

What I want to know, is what messages are boys receiving since birth? Maybe, never hit a woman. Perhaps, open doors for women. But how many messages about NOT ASSAULTING PEOPLE?

http://feminally.tumblr.com/post/168208983/sexual-assault-prevention-tips-guaranteed-to-work

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

No. Read what dial_zero said above.

If a woman felt called upon to use pepper spray to prevent it going any further, the man does not get a pass for "playfully jumped on her to kiss her or something else similarly romantic" because he "was flirting with her and thought she was into it."

Whether you mean it that way or not, you are blaming the victim.

[turil.livejournal.com]

People are messy. Humans, and pretty much all other species are sometimes unpleasant and potentially harmful, regardless of what messages they hear. That's a fact of life.

I'm a woman, and I've been mugged at knifepoint, and I don't care if anyone "blames" me for it or not (because I was biking on a somewhat secluded bike path right near a part of town where lots of people who've had a rough life live). What others think of me is irrelevant in this case. Instead, what matters to me is me taking responsibility for my own health and safety, and in my case that means choosing to bike in a more populated area (the road) and/or being more comfortable with the occasional frustrations and unpleasantness of life in a world full of repressed, unhappy, and confused people. :-)

[turil.livejournal.com]

Blame is a useless concept that I don't use. Instead I seek to understand reality.

Rather than jumping to conclusions that this guy "deserved" to be physically harmed by this woman (and her pepper spray), I'd like to know what his intentions were, and what his side of the story was. Because there are always at least two sides of the story.

But I know that many people think that it's acceptable to believe everything a woman says about a man when it comes to sex. And that's to be expected, because we are the weaker sex and need protection.

[siderea]

But they are implying, by issuing the advice, that the victim wasn't using common sense or evading danger

No, it was implying that "using common sense" and doing those things did keep her safe, which is a different sort of misogyny, because while no doubt being alert to her surroundings helped, what ACTUALLY kept her from being raped was being willing and ready to pepper spray the bastard. Something they decline to encourage or facilitate. I see we're still telling women not to fight back.

[dial-zero.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your calm response to my rant. Obviously this is an issue that I care about a lot. If you'd be willing to share, did you go to law enforcement about your mugging? What was their reaction? Did you go to trial? What was the reaction from the people in the court system? I see what you're saying about people's opinions not mattering to you, but what if people's opinions shape whether or not your attacker is investigated, prosecuted and punished; or if the crime is not investigated, or the jury doesn't believe you, or even blames you (consciously or not)?

[dial-zero.livejournal.com]

Instead of "seeking to understand reality," it seems that you're seeking a reason for why this was not assault; a pretty far-fetched reason/scenario in fact. An unknown man knocked her down and assaulted her--why are you so willing to question the facts of the case, or "reality," for the benefit of the attacker? I'm genuinely interested; does it make you feel safer to construct the possibility that this was a misinterpreted romantic advance or a crazy bitch randomly pepper spraying dudes?

[t-stop.livejournal.com]

I'm slightly agog at your response to the phrasing in the robo-call. To be honest, I EXPECTED them to say something offensive and was listening for it.

But this has to be one of the best-phrased notifications / warnings that I've seen put out. Are you sure you aren't projecting your (undoubtably well justified) trauma from previous similar messages?

What is in this:
- A notification that there is a specific danger in a specific area (beyond the standard day to day danger we all experience just living in the city)
- A description of what happened and the suspect in sufficient detail to allow those that are likely to jump at shadows to not jump at every shadow.
- An indirect endorsement of the use of self-defense to halt an attack. (Something the Police can't endorse explicitly, btw, but which can be highly effective for this type of attack. Also something that I've NEVER seen in this sort of announcement before.)
- A request to be "vigilant" and to take "common sense precautions". This may seem redundant to those that have lived in city's before.. but a ton of folks in this city come from elsewhere and may have little to no experience with "stranger crime".
- a request/reminder to help with community policing by reporting suspicious activities to the police.

What isn't here:
- any request for anyone to change their schedule, change their behavior, etc other than to be more aware of your surroundings (the example, using headphones, would fall into "common-sense, every day" precautions to me; unless you are excited to get killed by a hybrid vehicle crossing a street).
- any indication that you shouldn't come home on the T at 11 pm, 1am, 4am, whenever as you seem offended by.
- any statement that you shouldn't fight off your attacker if you can't evade them.
- anything REMOTELY implying that the woman was IN ANY WAY at fault and/or that they are treating this crime against her lightly. If you get that here, it is all in your head.

[koloratur.livejournal.com]

You know, just when I've thought you couldn't be more of an asshole, here you are, trying to pretend that suggesting the man was flirting and the woman simply misunderstood it is the FEMINIST viewpoint.

[grapefruiteater.livejournal.com]

If someone I don't know is following me on Summer St. in the dark and attempting to flirt with me, that's creepy, at the very least—nevermind if they "playfully jumped on" me. It's not a misunderstanding if someone feels threatened by that behavior, because that behavior is strange and scary.

[psychohist.livejournal.com]

"Playfully jumped on her to kiss her" would not have resulted in her falling down.

Possibly the man was under the misimpression that he was doing something socially acceptable, but if so, the pepper spray proved him wrong. That's reality.

[turil.livejournal.com]

I've been blamed many times for things (I reported being attacked and injured by my husband once, and the police blamed me for wanting to talk to him, saying that I should just stay away from him!), but that's part of life, having stupid things happen. :-)

I've been involved with the police many times, on both ends of things (asking for help, and being accused of doing things), and you never know what's going to happen. Sometimes they are great and mediate things, and other times they refuse to believe me, and other times they believe me but don't care.

In the mugging incident, I did report it to the police, but there was no easy way to find the kids who did it again, and so nothing happened legally. I hope the kids who did it got some support for finding better ways to have a decent life, though, and didn't end up being screwed up by the legal system.

[dial-zero.livejournal.com]

I can't respond in-depth now, if the wording had just said, "to KEEP taking commonsense precautions," I would have appreciated it a lot, because it would have acknowledged that we already alter our lives in ways large and small to avoid assault.

Also, I grew up in a town of 6,000 people and still managed to absorb all the cultural messages about "stranger danger" that I did, so I don't know who these commonsense precautions are supposed to be news to.

[psychohist.livejournal.com]

I think the mere mention of pepper spray encourages its use.

I don't think the city wants to explicitly encourage fighting back - by either men or women - because that could put them in a position of legal liability if either the criminal or the victim sues for some reason.

I'm seeking ALL the possibilities.

[turil.livejournal.com]

What makes me feel safer (not that I'm that interested in safety that much) is believing that people are more interested in the truth than in punishing a guy just because a woman didn't totally like what he did.

So yeah, I'd be more comfortable in a community where people didn't assume things, and instead were curious about getting the facts.

Also, women are encouraged to think of themselves as mostly helpless victims in our society, and it really disempowers them. Think about it, if a woman jumped on a man and tried to kiss him or something similar (not enough to be legally classified as rape or even attempted rape, but "indecent assault") and in response he sprayed her in the face with the intention to harm her, what are the chances that people would be pissed off at the guy? Pretty high. At least compared to the number of people who are pissed off at the woman in this case, I bet. So when I see people automatically side with a woman just because she's a woman, it makes me feel less safe.

And finally, yes, I do believe it's better to err on the side of conflict being caused by a misunderstanding or some other genuinely reasonable explanation, because it's not just realistic, but also helpful in thinking better of the human species. Thinking that humans, in their hearts, are basically good people, makes it a whole lot easier to be healthy and successful in life, as far as I can tell. :-)