public safety
ShotSpotter debate reignited after July 4 shooting
A fatal shooting early in the morning on July 4 has added heat to a smoldering debate over whether Cambridge should have kept a gunshot detection surveillance system in place. That system, ShotSpotter, had been in use by the city since 2014 until it was discontinued after a City Council vote May 18. Read more […]
Apparent shooting death being investigated in Cambridge
A person was shot to death at Broadway and Norfolk Street apparently in the morning on July 4, the Cambridge Police Department (CPD) announced. Read more History Cambridge moves ahead while waiting for headquarters to sell CPD issued a statement that an emergency call was placed a few minutes before 5:30 a.m. reporting a person […]
Majority of CARE responses not for mental health
A civilian emergency response team created to provide an alternative to police, especially for people experiencing mental health distress, answered very few mental health calls last year – only three percent of the total, as measured by emergency dispatches. Read more CRLS will see 14 athlete alumni play college sports Cambridge started its Community Assistance […]
Flaherty effort to save ShotSpotter misfires
The full city council rejected a last-ditch effort by Councillor Timothy Flaherty to rescind a previous vote to remove ShotSpotter, an acoustic sensor system used to detect gunshots. It had been in use by the Cambridge Police Department (CPD) since 2014. Flaherty put forth a policy order asserting that the council skipped steps in its […]
Charges dropped in fatal stabbing case
The Middlesex District Attorney’s office dropped all charges against Victor Rivas, a South Boston man involved in a fatal stabbing in Cambridge on January 6. Rivas had pled “not guilty” to charges of felony assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in the stabbing death of Antoine Johnson, a Freetown man who engaged in an […]
Ahern Field: Plastics should not be our future
In the heart of Cambridge, a critical debate is unfolding over the future of Ahern Field. While there is an understandable push to install artificial turf to accommodate high-demand sports, we must consider the true cost of replacing a living landscape with a synthetic one. For the residents of East Cambridge, Ahern Field is more […]
The Lorax comes to Cambridge City Council
Trees were at the root of City Council’s latest zoning debate, which at one point even saw “The Lorax” invoked. Read more Let them play: Ahern is strategic for our children and public health The Council voted unanimously to consider updates to its Tree Protection Ordinance, a set of city laws that govern how and […]
Cambridge police have to remove ShotSpotter. Officers aren’t happy
Two weeks ago, Cambridge City Council narrowly voted in favor of getting rid of ShotSpotter, a sensor system that records loud sounds that could be gunshots and alerts local police. The vote went against the recommendation of city manager Yi-An Huang and leadership at Cambridge Police Department (CPD), which said the technology has helped police […]
Loud bang heard across region, cause unknown
Around 2:10 p.m., a loud bang was heard across Cambridge and Somerville with police scanners in Somerville picking up Somerville Police Department chatter at 2:16 p.m. about several reports of a possible explosion. Other reports and online posts suggest the bang was heard throughout much of Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Read more Two movies on […]
Residents ask tough questions at Memorial Drive debrief
About 50 community members braved a downpour to attend a “Community Debrief” on the May 11 shooting on Memorial Drive, which made national news and left the perpetrator and two victims hospitalized. Those gathered in the steamy Cambridge Community Center gym, about a 10-minute walk from the incident’s site, listened to local leaders before grilling […]