The Harvard and Cambridge Police Departments spent yesterday alerting students and city residents of a stranger-on-stranger rape that occurred last week in the Riverside area, just blocks from Mather House.

More than 100 anxious Cantabrigians and a slew of city and police officials--including Police Commissioner Ronny White, City Councillor Michael A. Sullivan and Harvard Police Chief Francis D. "Bud" Riley--gathered last night in King Elementary School's cafeteria to discuss the crime.

And Harvard students who live in the Mather-Dunster area of campus said they have become increasingly concerned about their safety.

One Mather House resident said bluntly yesterday, "It's not safe. Rarely do I see a police car near Mather House."

At last night's meeting, police officials gave neighbors a description of the crime, offered safety tips and fielded a variety of concerns and questions.

Harvard officials did their part today by postering the river houses with a flier asking for information on "an armed home invasion and rape that occurred 9/7/96 at 12:45 A.M."

The Crime

As Cambridge's investigation has progressed, police officials have released a more detailed description of last week's assault.

In an interview yesterday, Cambridge Sergeant Joseph J. McSweeney, head of sex crime investigations, said the perpetrator entered the victim's first-floor apartment through an open crank window in the back of her home.

After stealing some jewelry and a Camcorder, the intruder entered the woman's bedroom where she was asleep with her child, forced her at knifepoint into another room and raped her, the officer said. The alleged rapist then bound and gagged the woman and fled through the same window.

At last night's meeting, police officials suggested that the original address they released--Bay and Green Streets--was inaccurate, but would now say only that the attack occurred in the area bound by Putnam, Kinnaird, Hancock and Green Streets.

The police have also partially modified their original description of the offender, who is still at large. He is said to be a medium-skinned black male, 25-35 years of age, 5'5" tall, of medium build and with dark hair. At the time of the attack, he was wearing a blue T-shirt, blue jeans and black leather gloves.

Alarmed

Both Harvard and Cambridge officials insisted that this is an isolated incident and is no cause for serious alarm.

But according to recent published reports by the Cambridge Police Department, incidents of rape in city are up dramatically since the beginning of the year.

Between January and June, 22 rapes occurred in Cambridge, an almost 37 percent increase from Cambridge's average of eight per quarter, according to Cambridge Police crime statistics.

"The 1996 first quarter figure [12] was the highest number of incidents reported to the department since the inception of the Crime Report," according to a Cambridge Crime Report from the spring.

Students and citizens alike said they are anxious about this most recent attack.

"The area [around Mather and Dunster House] is slowly building up a reputation as a dangerous area," said Victoria L. Merriman '98, a Dunster House resident. "It's scary."

Yet Merriman said she still walks by herself to the Square at night.

"I'm not really worried," she said, "but I'm starting to."

Harvard police officers sharply disagreed with students' assessment of the neighborhood.

"I don't think it's dangerous," said Harvard Lt. John F. Rooney. "It's very well-patrolled by marked and unmarked Cambridge and Harvard cars."

"There are a few assaults here and there, but they're random and sporadic," he said. "It's not an epidemic."

Nevertheless, two other serious crimes have been committed against Harvard students in the same neighborhood within the past year.

Last September, a Mather House resident was assaulted at knifepoint just outside the house and fled with bruises and a cut over his eye. Another Harvard student was sexually assaulted mid-morning while jogging along the river.

Although the incidence of rape is up this year, the number of assaults from January to March in Cambridge was down 21 percent, according to the Cambridge police report.

Security at Harvard

Currently, security guards are stationed at the houses, including Mather, from 5 p.m. until shortly after midnight, except on Friday and Saturday nights when they are on duty all night.

Harvard officials said they believe 24-hour security is still not necessary.

"[Putting in such security] may be a bit over-reacting," Rooney said, "but in the long term, it could be explored."

Leaders of Harvard student safety organizations said they agree that around-the-clock security is not necessary yet. But they do call for other improvements.

"I think more security couldn't hurt, but at the same time better education would be more valuable," said Rosalie L. Parker '96-'97, founder of the Harvard Alliance for Safety, Training and Education (HASTE).

"Harvard really needs to be careful about talking to the freshmen, and the upperclassmen, about keeping themselves safe and telling them if anything happens what plans of action they can take," Parker said.

Still, student safety leaders are not alarmed by Harvard's safety record.

"I've long maintained that Harvard's campus is really unsafe if you think it's safe," said Marco B. Simons '97 last year's president of Safety Walk. "It is a dangerous area, but if you take precautions about your safety, you will generally be okay."

For now, Harvard and Cambridge police are asking only that students and citizens take reasonable precautions.

These include locking doors and windows, checking the safety lights around homes and generally being street-smart and safety-conscious, according to Rooney.

Most importantly, according to McSweeney, "If you see someone suspicious, call the police.