Critics blame Anderson for ordering police officers to use force to control the Haitian protests and for acting too slowly when violence flared up in the Puerto Rican neighborhood.

However, the Miami chief, who is Black, says the difficulties resulted from severe racial tensions in the city. And he adds the situations have since cleared up.

"People involved against me in [the aftermath of the Haitian disturbance] have even sent letters to congratulate me on my new position," Anderson says. "In the long run they appreciated my strength in preventing the loss of life."

The new commissioner says he realizes that he will face tensions of another sort when he arrives in Cambridge. The city has endured a rash of violence the past few weeks, including a rape and two stabbings, one of them fatal, in the Harvard vicinity.

"The traumas must have had their effect psychologically throughout the community," Anderson says. "A rape and a stabbing are among the worst things that could happen. I'll have to wait until I get down there to make assessments and evaluations on the situations that have already happened there--I don't want to be premature. We'll just have to look at the structure of the city and do whatever's best for the city."

Anderson says he sees no great problems in facing recent conflicts between groups within the police department, including two Black police sergeants who last year claimed they were unjustly denied promotion. He says that he grew accustomed to such disputes in Miami, where the force is as diverse as the one in Cambridge.

"I'm accustomed to working in that environment," Anderson says. "I'll deal with that issue, including the complaints of the Black officers, although nothing is going to change the world overnight. I'll try to do my best."

Anderson says he is committed to following whatever paths are necessary to make Cambridge a better city.

"I was offered a challenge to make the department more community-oriented, with more response to citizens' concerns, and I took the opportunity because I wanted to do some new things in a unique environment," he says. "I'm coming to Cambridge to serve the purpose not for Perry Anderson, but for Cambridge.

Name: Perry L. Anderson, Jr.

Birthdate: August 6, 1944.

Birthplace: Miami.

Education: Graduate of Miami-Dade Community College, Florida International University and the Southern Police Institute at the University of Louisiana.

Career Highlights: Veteran, U.S. Army, 1964-67; member, Miami Police Department, 1969-present; Chief, Miami Police Department, 1988-present.

Family: Married with one child.