Galleria Tightens Security After Rape

The Cambridge Human and Civil Rights Committee recently held a hearing to address the security measures taken at the CambridgeSide Galleria in response to the Oct.4 kidnapping at knife point of a 19-year-old woman from the mall.

The woman was subsequently gangraped by four men, according to Cambridge police.

New security measures taken by mall management include installing additional security cameras and increasing security patrols of the mall's parking garage, as well as extending community-outreach programs to include several women's programs.

"I think that they have tried very hard to be responsive to concerns," said City Councillor Katherine Triantafillou, who chaired the hearing.

Representatives from CambridgeSide Galleria have met with representatives from the Cambridge Commission on the Status of Women, the Boston Rape Crisis Center and the Massachusetts Coalition of Battered Women.

Mall officials met with people from the Massachusetts Coalition of Battered Women in mid-November, according to Sylvia C. Guthrie, director of development at the coalition.

Guthrie described the meeting as an "introductory meeting so that the folks from the mall could get information about us and the work that we do."

The coalition is an umbrella group for domestic-violence programs throughout Massachusetts, Guthrie said.

The coalition has given the mall information, including brochures about personal safety and palm cards that list shelter hotline numbers, Guthrie said.

In terms of the future of the relationship between the mall and the coalition, Guthrie said, "We don't have a game plan yet."

The mall management also cited in a news release "enhancement of crisis communication with store managers and their staffs" as another measure taken to increase safety at the mall.

But not all store managers were aware of the mall management's attempts to increase communication regarding safety issues.

An assistant manager at the CVS located in the Galleria said he "[has not] seen anything" in terms of new safety policies directed at store managers.

A manager at a women's clothing store in the mall also said that she did not "know too much" about the new security measures in place at the mall.

Some store managers were more complimentary of the mall management's action in the face of the recent kidnapping.

"The mall is actually very responsive," said the manager of a mall clothing store who asked not to be identified.

The clothing-store manager said that mall management recently had a meeting to tell store managers about new security measures.

The managers of the mall "are really good about engaging Cambridge police," the clothing-store manager said.

Other measures that will be taken to enhance security at the mall include installing additional intercoms in the parking garage and enhancing all existing security and customer assistance signage.

All of these measures were scheduled to be completed by Dec. 1, according to the news release.

The general manager of the mall did not return repeated phone calls this week by The Crimson to discuss the status of the completion of these measures.

In addition to the rape, the CambridgeSide Galleria has recently been the scene of a number of other crimes, according to the Cambridge Police Department blotter.

A slew of people have been arrested for shoplifting. Furthermore, a juvenile was arrested Nov. 24 for an assault at the mall involving a kitchen knife.

The juvenile was also charged with being a minor in possession of alcohol and possession of a class D substance.

On Nov. 30, a resident of Bigelow Street reported that two men sitting near him in the food court of the mall took two of his bags, which he had left unattended for a short period of time.

Harvard students said they do not think the mall has a security problem.

"I can't say that I have ever noticed a real security problem," said Keith E. Bernard '99. "It has been like any mall I have ever gone to."

"I haven't really noticed any [security] changes there recently," said Richard A. Phillips '99.

Both Phillips and Bernard said that they make monthly trips to the mall.