We at the Tufts American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Project REPEAL were pleased to see that Jonah Peppiatt wrote a Viewpoint addressing the Somerville Anti-Gang Ordinance ("The TCU capitol gang," April 5), as it gives us an opportunity to address the misconceptions surrounding the ordinance and the related civil liberties issues.
No member of the Tufts ACLU or Project REPEAL doubts the statistics from the Newsweek article that Peppiatt cited. We agree that MS-13 is a violent criminal gang that needs to be combated with effective law enforcement and policing measures. However, the Somerville Anti-Gang Ordinance not only hinders this goal, but it is also in gross violation of the civil rights afforded to all American citizens by the Constitution.
With further research, Peppiatt would have found that there are in fact laws and programs already in place within Somerville that are working to combat the city's gang problem. Unfortunately, these laws and programs are not being either funded or enforced. Instead of advocating that resources be put into these programs, Peppiatt instead asks members of the Tufts community to support the codification of discrimination into the laws of our host community.
It is no wonder that Somerville has a gang problem when it has only three police officers assigned to their anti-gang unit. Feel good, knee-jerk laws, such as the one Peppiatt supports, neither provide the added funding nor the manpower that the Somerville Police Department so desperately requires. Peppiatt exploits the horrific rape of two Somerville girls as evidence for the need of the Anti-Gang ordinance, despite the fact that the ordinance would have done absolutely nothing to prevent that crime from being committed. Moreover, policies that violate the civil rights of citizens are not inherently safer or more effective. On the contrary, they inhibit the ability of law enforcement agents to perform their jobs well.
Recently, an ordinance similar to Somerville's was proposed to the Boston City Council but was met with resistance from the Boston Police Department itself. Boston Police, who face a far graver gang problem than Somerville, felt that an ordinance such as this would hinder their ability to keep their community safe. Boston has had a long standing tradition of racial tensions and tensions between the police and the community. The Boston Police Department has said that it has taken nearly 30 years to mend these ties and that the proposed ordinance (with its blatantly discriminatory provisions through racial profiling) would undoubtedly sever the crucial police-community relationship built in Boston over the past 30 years.
It is also important to note that the Chicago Anti-Gang ordinance on which the Somerville ordinance is directly based was ruled unconstitutional. In addition, the implementation of the Chicago ordinance led to thousands of unnecessary arrests and distracts the police department from effective means of crime prevention.
Peppiatt is correct that it is the Tufts Community Union Senate's role to protect student safety, but he neglects to mention their role in protecting student rights. This ordinance leads to the targeting of certain groups of minority students, as neither this ordinance nor the Somerville Police can easily differentiate between Tufts students and other Somerville residents. Racial profiling on the Tufts campus will not make Tufts students any safer, but will further the tensions between Tufts and Somerville.
The Tufts ACLU and Project REPEAL are working with numerous community organizations within Somerville to try to develop a safe, effective and constitutional plan of action to address the city's gang problem. Project HEAL is a complement to funding and organizing effective law enforcement initiatives, as mentioned before, to address the root of the problem. Project HEAL, in its current state, is a discussion on how to best work with the community to address the root causes of gang violence.
We would like to thank the TCU Senate for protecting students' rights, recognizing that fear should not be used as a political tool, and appreciating that Tufts students and Somerville residents can live together in both safety and freedom.
Dan Grant is a sophomore majoring in Political Science.
