The Cambridge Police Department has become the object of distrust and anger within several segments of the community following charges lodged by citizens over the summer of police brutality and racial discrimination.

In recent weeks, members of local tenant groups, black organizations and white neighborhoods have scored the police for failing to enforce the laws uniformly and for engaging in "racist activities."

Antagonism between the Police Department and the community surfaced following these summer developments:

* On July 11, a black man named Clarence Anderson was chased on his motorcycle by two white police officers from Cambridge to Malden and then allegedly punched and kicked by the officers. Anderson suffered a serious injury to his right eye and lost a tooth in the alleged beating. On July 31, a Third District Court judge found Anderson guilty of failing to stop for a uniformed police officer and for operating a motor vehicle in a manner that would endanger the lives of others.

* On July 31, five black patrolmen--the only blacks on the 250-man Cambridge force--filed a class action suit in federal court against Cambridge Mayor Walter J. Sullivan, the city manager, the Cambridge City Council, the State Civil Service Commission and the State Civil Service Division. The police officers said they are being denied promotions "due to the racial practices and policies of the defendants." They seek a court order to have all eligible black patrolmen promoted to sergeant and to force the city to implement an "affirmative action" plan for police recruitment and promotion. A special three-judge panel led by Frank M. Coffin, chief of the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, will hear the case before September 30.

* On the night of August 15, two North Cambridge youths, one black and one white, died from gunshot wounds sustained in a neighborhood scuffle. Police arrested and charged a black resident, J. Hugh Price, with murder and manslaughter in the two deaths, but did not file charges against any other persons involved in the melee.

* Two other instances of alleged police abuse occurred this summer involving black victims and white police officers. A maintenance worker at Walden Square said he tried to stop a fight on a July afternoon when a patrolman set his attack dog after him. In another incident an East Cambridge man was assaulted by a gang of white youths and he alleges he was refused aid when he called Cambridge police.

Concern about police abuse groups that confronted Cambridge city councilors July 11 and September 9 to appeal for action to remedy the alleged "racist police behavior."

At the early September council meeting, an ad hoc Coalition to Combat Racism called for the resignations of Police Chief James F. Reagan, City Manager James L. Sullivan and several police officers, saying that "the issue of racism [is] of sufficient importance that there is no one so powerful or so removed that they can stand on the sidelines and watch as some citizens in this city literally go through hell."

The group, representing 12 local organizations, also asked the council to create a citizen investigative unit to study the practices of the Police Department. A plan submitted by the group stipulated that the proposed unit be supported entirely by city money and that all members be chosen from the Coalition to Combat Racism. The council has not yet taken the matter under serious consideration.

The request for an independent investigative unit reflected a growing dissatisfaction many citizens have expressed over the methods now available to clear or indict police officers on charges of abuse and brutality.

The Clarence Anderson case spotlighted the process of "internal investigation" carried out by police. Department investigators recorded testimony from police officers and witnesses to the Anderson incident and stored the tapes in the office of the police planner. Police confirmed later that a person entered the office on August 21 without authorization and apparently listened to the tapes. The Boston Globe reported last month, however, that tape interviews with eight policemen were stolen. The police would neither confirm or deny that story.

Police Capt. Francis Pisani, who headed the police investigation, said last week that his staff is now transcribing some of the tapes for a final report, destined for the police chief's desk. He refused to say what the report will recommend.

Anderson already has been turned away from court twice for failing to produce sufficient evidence to warrant a suit against police officers Francis Burns and James F. Hallice. Anderson's attorney, William P. Homans Jr. '41, said recently, "I think that the denial shows that with certain judges it's impossible to get justice when black people and members of the police force are involved."

Dr. Raymond Liggio, who treated Anderson after the July incident, told The Crimson in August that his examination showed Anderson's eye was struck by a blunt object. He said a pupil defect observed in Anderson's eye may indicate permanent damage to the optic nerve.