Tempers flared and frustration levels soared Tuesday night when about 50 Cambridge residents met with police officials, city councillors and Cambridge Mayor Michael A. Sullivan to discuss strategies for addressing the city’s recent wave of violent crime.

The police had few answers for Cambridge resident Bambie Hoose, who said she feared allowing her children out of the house, or for Riverside Neighborhood Association President Lawrence J. Adkins, who said the city desperately needs a more active, visible police presence.

“We need two men, either side [of the neighborhood], looking at each other, making reports constantly,” said Adkins, who like other community members expressed worry that police officers are too often in cars zipping through the neighborhood, rather than patrolling it on foot. “We need to have an understanding where you can see a person in blue walking your neighborhood.”

Residents also said they felt there was a lack of police response when they did voice concerns.

One woman said she had heard gunshots outside her house one morning—but though she made a frightened phone call to the police station, no officer appeared on the scene. Hoose, whose daughter testified in court a year ago against a group of youths accused of stabbing a friend, said windows in her house had been shattered by bricks and she had been threatened while walking in the city.

“Every time I call the police, I don’t feel like I’m getting any help,” Hoose said. “What I’m getting is the run-around.”

The frustration and fear of residents like her can spiral, said Cambridge City Councillor E. Denise Simmons.

“People like Bambie will cease to report,” Simmons said.

“Neighbors should not be frightened and yet they are frightened,” said State Rep. Alice K. Wolf, D–Cambridge. “Sometimes they’re even afraid to call the police because they fear retaliation.”

But Cambridge Police Department Superintendent David Degou said communication is essential to effective policing of the city, as is collaboration between residents and police.

“I think it’s unfortunate that many times it takes a major crisis to bring everyone out here,” Degou said.

For the past decade, Cambridge has had a community policing initiative in place, which calls for frequent, consistent contact between city residents and the police in order to let the latter know what areas need additional attention.

Though Degou said the Riverside community is generally a communicative one, he said participation had been lacking in the city as a whole—resulting in a dearth of helpful information in deciding how to allocate police.

“I’ve been to meetings where there have been one or two people,” said Degou in a later interview. However, “[Riverside] is a very active community group and we appreciate them being active. It’s an area we’ve been concerned about for years and years and years.”

Sullivan said another possible reason for the lack of police visibility is the smaller size of today’s force.