New law written in reaction to Somerville rapes

In reaction to three rapes allegedly committed by Somerville gang members in the past month, the city is working to pass legislation intended to help alleviate residents' anxieties.

Suspected members of the El Salvadorian gang MS-13 allegedly raped two deaf teenage girls, one of whom has cerebral palsy, in Foss Park on Oct. 24, following several incidents of violence involving MS-13 members in East Somerville. A ten-year-old hearing-impaired female was also raped on Nov. 9 by a man whose link to the gang is under investigation, The Somerville Journal reported.

Somerville Mayor Dorothy Kelly Gay called the acts "the most heinous of crimes." Although the city's general level of crime has come down as a result of the police's forceful and effective determination to apprehend crime perpetrators, she said, the city has seen an increase in gang violence.

In response to the acts, William Roche, member of the Board of the Alderman for the Somerville City Council, proposed legislation that would give the police department a new tool in dealing with gang members. If instituted, the law would permit a police officer to disperse loitering groups of known gang members, Roche said.

The law is intended to prevent further acts of violence by gangs with a history of violent behavior, Roche said. "If in the past, the gang has a history of creating public safety hazards such as beatings, rape, etc., that would give the police department a reason to move the gang," Roche said.

The law specifies that a police officer would only have the right to ask a person or group to leave an area if the party in question is a known affiliate with a gang that has perpetrated violent crimes in the past. Such a person or group would be asked to disperse for twelve hours, and could be jailed from 24 hours to five days if the order was not followed.

"We just have to send [the gangs] a message loud and clear that we won't tolerate the type of activity they've been doing here," Roche said.

The legislation is now in the subcommittee of the Board of Alderman, which will meet this Thursday night to refine its wording to ensure its legality. Next Tuesday, the full board will meet and vote on the law. If approved, Kelly Gay must then sign it before it goes to the state house, where it must be passed by both branches of the state legislature.

Both Kelly Gay and Roche believe the city will pass the law in the near future, but recognize that debate over its constitutionality may slow the process. "I think that some form of the law will be enacted," Roche said. But if some see elements of the law as infringements on personal rights, "we may have to reword it so that it is completely constitutional," he said.

The city's mayor wants to be certain that the law does not violate civil liberties. "If we can write the law so that it doesn't trample on anyone's rights and I am sure that it is constitutionally correct, then I will sign it," Kelly Gay said.

But the severity of the issue has prompted officials and citizens to push for speedy approval of legislation to reduce the threat of gang violence within the city. "[Gang members] have shown what they are capable of doing here, and other members of the gang have created much more violent acts in other places," Roche said. "This gang is all over the country. I don't want it to get to that level here."

The acts of violence have prompted community members to engage in dialogue about gang-related issues. Last week around 200 residents gathered at a neighborhood meeting to ask questions of their city officials and listen to discourse on how to combat the gang.

The effects of the recent incidents and the proposed legislation are felt on the Tufts campus as well as in the greater Somerville community. "Theoretically this law seems like a good idea, especially because being a 20-year-old girl I am a likely target," sophomore Jill Friedman said.

But the legislation is not flawless, Friedman said. Even if police say they have evidence that can prove a person's gang membership, "it really just allows the police force to use their own biases and prejudices," she said.

The law would allow police to move people without ever proving any guilt, Friedman said. "That is not right."

The proposed law has also brought tensions between the white and the Latino immigrant populations of Somerville to the surface. Although East Somerville's longtime residents "have been tolerant of the immigrant population," Kelly Gay said, the recent incidents have made them slightly fearful.

But the majority of the town's large Latino population has no link to the gang, she said. "This town has a lot of wonderful people living in it who are of Latino decent and who don't want to be put into same category as these hoodlums," Kelly Gay said.

Kelly Gay is optimistic that the city will soon quiet down. "Soon... we will be able to take the streets back for the people," she said. "That is our goal."