The latest crime statistics released by the Cambridge Police Department (CPD) would give any other departments reason to brag. They're so low, in fact, that they could even help resolve tension between officers and the police commissioner, and low morale in the department.

Not the case.

Thanks in large part to negative press and a difficult summer, morale is low and tension high.

For a city that prides itself as one of the most liberal in the country, one headline this summer was particularly jolting. Top training officers in the Cambridge Police Department said they taught new recruits that pepper spray was less effective on members of certain Hispanic ethnic groups because of their alleged predilection for spicy foods.

First reported by the Cambridge Chronicle and then picked up by the Boston Globe, the news acquired a national currency, even being pitched in the network newsroom of ABC in New York.

Soon after the original article appeared, Police Commissioner Ronnie L. Watson released a statement. In it, he apologized for his officers. "We have met with our instructors to ensure that all future training includes only material that is a part of the Massachusetts Criminal Justice Training Council's curriculum," the statement read.

Coverage of the original impertinent comments eclipsed a summer filled with positive news for the department's crime-fighting efforts. Rape is down 36 percent so far this year. There are fewer robberies, fewer assaults, and no murders. Street robberies, long a thorn in the side of patrol officers, were down 16 percent through June.

Still, some residents aren't satisfied, and they're pointing the finger at Watson.

Like residents of Area 4, Cambridge's hot zone. Full of bustling businesses and family residences, the neighborhood bordered by Central Square and MIT is the city's most urban.