Oct 6, 2008 8:49 am US/Eastern
Report: T Groping Crackdown Working
BOSTON (AP) ―
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One MBTA ad from the spring showed a young woman standing on a bus or train squeezed between two larger, anonymous bodies opposite the words "Rub against me and I'll expose you."
WBZ
The MBTA's crackdown on inappropriate groping on the subway is working.
The
Boston Herald reports that since the start of the T's campaign on April 12, police have received 69 reports of sexual assault, compared to 37 in the same period last year.
Also, arrests of alleged predators doubled from nine to 18 during the same span.
MBTA Transit Police Detective Brian Harer says police are going undercover to apprehend the suspects, while riders are stepping forward in greater numbers to report assaults.
Paul MacMillan, acting chief of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Police, says that while the crackdown targeted "
rubbers and grabbers," it ended up encouraging victims of all sexual assaults to come forward.
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