Vorenberg Asks for Investigation Of Racial Balance in City's Police

James Vorenberg, professor of Law, yesterday urged 75 clergymen to find out whether the racial inequities uncovered in the Cambridge police force three years ago still exist today.

Three years ago, there were only three Negroes on the 250-man Cambridge force. Now, according to one officer, there are five.

In an address to the 13th Annual Clergy Seminar in the Hotel Commander, the former executive director of the President's Crime Commission also called for Cambridge to institute some of the Commission's recommendations, as other cities have already done.

As director of the Cambridge Civil Rights Committee three years ago, Vorenberg uncovered other racial inequities in the Cambridge police, including a "hostile" attitude toward Negroes and "unfairness" in white officers' dealing with Negro officers.

Vorenberg said that at the time the group made efforts to have certain reforms instituted, particularly in hiring, but it "got a lukewarm reception from the city manager (then John J. Curry)."

"I don't know what the situation is now, but the police (at that time) would not go out and recruit Negroes as they should have," he said.

Cambridge Police Chief John J. Grainger Sr. could not be reached for comment last night.

Vorenberg suggested the creation of a community relations unit, a youth service bureau, and a citizen's crime committee.

He emphasized that the citizen's crime committee is not meant to be a civilian police review board, but rather a group to suggest changes in all crime-related matters, including city lighting as well as the police force.

Cambridge has a higher officer-to-citizen ratio-four for each 1000 residents--than the national average, Vorenberg pointed out. He called for the City Council to press the police department on how this manpower is utilized, reiterating the Commission's suggestion that more patrolmen should use cars and scooters, rather than walk their beats.