Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Boston T Anti-Harassment Campaign Update

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boston-anti-grope-campaign-sign-2It’s been a year since the MBTA launched a public awareness campaign about sexual harassment on the Boston transit (the T). Transit Police Chief Paul MacMillan recently said, “This campaign has been highly effective in addressing this persistent issue. Not only have more victims reported this crime, but because of their reports, we have been able to arrest more and more of the offenders.”

The Boston Globe reports that since the campaign launched, the number of groping complaints increased 74 percent. Over the same period, police arrested 24 people for indecent assault and battery, which was an increase of 85 percent from the year before.

I had been wondering what the results of their campaign would be and I’m glad to hear it seems to be positive as far as raising awareness among riders that groping is illegal and encouraging people to report it when it happens.

When I read the article, there were 25 comments from readers. Most of the opening comments were from men concerned that women were overreacting to being on crowded trains and were probably reporting innocent men. Fortunately, many other commenters then jumped in either sharing their experience being obviously groped on the T or defending women who know the difference between groping and just being sardined on a crowded train. Good for them. Educate the ignorant!

Do you take the T? Do you think the anti-harassment campaign has had an impact during the past year?

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T Groping in Boston Leads to Arrest

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Transit police in Boston, MA, are working with the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC) to address low level sexual harassment on public transportation (ie street harassment) and Gina Scaramella, executive director of BARCC says twice as many people are reporting incidents since the campaign launched.

The Boston Globe describes a recent incident that ended in arrest:

“Jose Carlos Delacruz, 24, was accused of touching at least three women in an inappropriate manner around 10 p.m. Friday on the train in Brookline.

After allegedly groping one of the women, Delacruz then moved on to the two others and touched them inappropriately, according to transit police. When another man tried to place himself between Delacruz and the women, the suspect pushed him and continued trying to grope the women, the police said.

The train stopped at Coolidge Corner, where an MBTA inspector detained Delacruz until police arrived. When police arrived, he became combative and started cursing loudly at the officers, transit police said. It took three officers to subdue him, police said.

Police charged Delacruz with indecent assault and battery, disorderly conduct, and three counts of assault and battery.”

Transit police advise riders who are groped to “move away to the best of their ability and to draw attention to the attacker and enlist the help of fellow riders. ‘If possible, get a picture of the individual with your cellphone,’ said Transit Police Chief Paul MacMillan. ‘It’s one of the best ways for us to catch the attacker.'”

Police awareness & sensitivity & collaboration with a rape crisis center all sound very promising as does the fact that this perhaps serial groper is getting regulated for his behavior. Keep it up Boston! And gropers, stop groping!

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