Three Reasons for the Funk at the CPD

The latest crime statistics released by the Cambridge Police Department (CPD) would give any other departments reason to brag. They're so low, in fact, that they could even help resolve tension between officers and the police commissioner, and low morale in the department.

Not the case.

Thanks in large part to negative press and a difficult summer, morale is low and tension high.

For a city that prides itself as one of the most liberal in the country, one headline this summer was particularly jolting. Top training officers in the Cambridge Police Department said they taught new recruits that pepper spray was less effective on members of certain Hispanic ethnic groups because of their alleged predilection for spicy foods.

First reported by the Cambridge Chronicle and then picked up by the Boston Globe, the news acquired a national currency, even being pitched in the network newsroom of ABC in New York.

Soon after the original article appeared, Police Commissioner Ronnie L. Watson released a statement. In it, he apologized for his officers. "We have met with our instructors to ensure that all future training includes only material that is a part of the Massachusetts Criminal Justice Training Council's curriculum," the statement read.

Coverage of the original impertinent comments eclipsed a summer filled with positive news for the department's crime-fighting efforts. Rape is down 36 percent so far this year. There are fewer robberies, fewer assaults, and no murders. Street robberies, long a thorn in the side of patrol officers, were down 16 percent through June.

Still, some residents aren't satisfied, and they're pointing the finger at Watson.

Like residents of Area 4, Cambridge's hot zone. Full of bustling businesses and family residences, the neighborhood bordered by Central Square and MIT is the city's most urban.

It has also been a proving ground for the city's drug dealers and prostitutes.

Quality of life in Area 4 has been declining this year: through June, drug arrests were up 81percent, and reported street robberies doubled.

On Sept. 9, the city held a community meeting in the neighborhood, attracting dozens of angry residents and a handful of the city's top elected officials. And even though he felt he knew his city, councillor Timothy J. Toomey was astounded at what he heard, he said.

"I was very surprised that drug sales could be taking place on the same corner....and[the residents said] the drug dealers were having breakfast on Mass. Ave. It was kind of amazing," Toomey said.

For the neighborhood caught in a crime wave, the anger toward the police commissioner apparent at the meeting is no surprise.

But Watson, entering his third year as Cambridge's top cop, is no more popular elsewhere--not with most city officials, not with some residents, and not even with many of his patrol officers.

And morale in the police department is low, according to police officers and city officials.

They point toward two other reasons for the funk at 5 Western Ave.

First, Watson has, according to both patrol officers and Cambridge political officials, been at odds with his top supervisors since he became commissioner in 1996. Though Watson has been an effective manager, his style has clashed with the old guard at the department. Worse, according to some, is that Watson never developed rapport with his patrol officers, due in part to his stormy relationship with the Cambridge Police Patrol Officer's Union.

"Community policing," the department's focus on quality-of-life issues, has been the core of Watson's plan of action. But he and his senior staff have repeatedly butted heads with the patrol officer's union over the best way for it to work.

In an interview with The Crimson last spring, Watson said he was doing the best job he could--and that the results of his tenure, a low crime rate, speak for themselves.

Another reason for the funk: police headquarters itself, the building that ought to be the crown jewel of a law enforcement agency, is a bad place to work.

The space is small for a department as large as the city's. Carpeting is torn. Walls are tired. Paint is peeling.

"Naturally, if the [work environment] is depressed, it's depressing to come to work," said Toomey, who wants to see the city council approve funding for a new headquarters.

Even with these constraints, officers say they're doing the best job they can.

"You have to understand," said an officer on patrol on JFK Street, "we're all jaded."

The officer, who asked that his name not be used, said that the Chronicle stories about pepper spray and others reported false details--and didn't accurately reflect what officers were taught.

"The Chronicle has printed all sorts of bad stories about us," he said.

Others blame the city for not adequately supporting the department.

"The city will lie to you. Don't believe anything they tell you," said a motorcycle officer who--as did all officers interviewed for this story--asked that his name not be used.

Watson was out of town and not available to comment.

Frank T. Pasquarello, the CPD's spokesperson, said that although the pepper spray story "got blown out of proportion," it had no effect on morale.

And he said that he has received no criticism from city officials over the department's handling of the pepper spray incident.

Although Pasquarello disputes the extent to which the department's morale has been hampered, he said he does recognize that the problem is exacerbated by the press.

"You'll see things grown out of

media hype," he said.

Cambridge Mayor Francis H. Duehay '55 said he believes the department deserves more balanced coverage.

"Certainly, the press coverage is inadequate simply because reporters often take things secondhand and we very seldom see reporters are neighborhoods meetings and subcommittee meetings," Duehay said.

But Duehay said he remains somewhat optimistic about what some officers believe is a tough dilemma to solve.

"People really have to work at it and the union really has to work at it. All parties have to work at it," Duehay said.