The Cambridge Police Department is the municipal

police department The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and ...

for the city of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, Massachusetts, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Formally organized in 1859. with the appointment of John C. Willey as the first Chief of Police, the Cambridge Police Department was then manned by only 16 officers. The Cambridge Police Department moved its headquarters location on December 8, 2008. The police department is now located in the Robert W. Healy Public Safety Facility at 125 Sixth Street in the neighborhood of

East Cambridge East Cambridge is a neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Referred to in modern times as Area 1, East Cambridge is bounded by the Charles River and the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston on the east, the Somerville border on the north, Bro ...

, leaving their Central Square location after 135 years. Prior to the move, the Cambridge Police were based in a facility at 5 Western Avenue, which was considered an outdated facility that had been used from 1933 to 2008.

Cooperation

The Cambridge Police is the main

law enforcement agency A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws. Jurisdiction LEAs which have their ability to apply their powers restricted in some way are said to operate within a jurisdiction. LEAs ...

for the city of Cambridge where it holds ultimate jurisdiction over the city. Joint law enforcement may be carried out with the assistance of other law enforcement agencies including two divisions of the

Massachusetts State Police The Massachusetts State Police (MSP) is an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, responsible for criminal law enforcement and traffic vehicle regulation across the state. As of 10/4/2022, it ...

known as the Fourth (Boston) and Fifth (Brighton) barracks of Troop H which provide cooperation with the Cambridge Police Department. Additionally, the

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Police The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Police (also known as the T Police or Transit Police and colloquially known as the "Subway Cops") is a police force which has primary jurisdiction on Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA ...

may cover its own transit properties or facilities in Cambridge along with the

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

providing coverage for their local

campus A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-like se ...

es and other facilities.

Officers killed in the line of duty

Since the establishment of the CPD, five officers have died in the line of duty. * Officer William Loughrey Patrol Officer Loughrey was stabbed to death on June 26, 1860 while attempting to arrest a suspect near what is known today as the Longfellow Bridge. He observed the man, covered in blood, running down the street. Believing the man was being pursued by other officers, Officer Loughrey attempted to subdue him. The suspect stabbed Officer Loughrey several times, causing him to bleed to death. Officer Loughrey had served with the Cambridge Police Department for 14 years. He was survived by his wife and four children. * Officer Thomas J. Riley Patrolman Riley was shot and killed on November 20, 1920 while trying to disperse a group of drunk men. As he turned to leave one of the men produced a revolver and shot Patrolman Riley in the head. Patrolman Riley had been with the agency for eight years. A 25-year-old suspect was arrested and convicted of murder. * Officer John J. Guthrie Patrolman John Guthrie succumbed to injuries sustained five days earlier on December 26, 1926 when he was struck by a car while directing traffic. The impact threw Patrolman Guthrie into the path of oncoming streetcar. He was transported to a local hospital where he remained until succumbing to his injuries. Patrolman Guthrie had served with the Cambridge Police Department for 17 years. He was survived by his wife and one child. * Officer Albert G. Eckardt Patrolman Albert Eckart was killed on November 3, 1951 after being thrown from the back of an ambulance at the intersection of Prospect Street and Harvard Street. He was escorting a patient to the hospital during a snow storm when the accident occurred. Patrolman Eckart had been in law enforcement for nine years. He served as a Military Policeman in the U.S. Army during WWII before returning to duty for Cambridge. He was survived by his wife, parents, and several brothers. * Officer Lawrence W. Gorman Patrolman Lawrence Gorman was shot and killed on September 3, 1960 while attempting to arrest two burglary suspects in Kendall Square. He observed the two men breaking into a restaurant and tried to arrest them when they opened fire, mortally wounding him. He was able to return fire and wound one of the suspects in the leg, who was taken into custody. On May 14, 1961, the captured suspect, aided by his accomplice, escaped from the Middlesex County Jail along with another inmate. With a smuggled handgun he shot and killed Jail Master David S. Robinson. Three days later he shot and killed himself when police stormed a Boston apartment where he was hiding. His accomplice and the other escapee were captured a short time later. On September 24, 1961, his accomplice was convicted of Patrolman Gorman's murder and sentenced to death. His sentence was later commuted to life. Patrolman Gorman had served with the agency for eight years and was survived by his wife and three children. * MIT Police Officer Sean Collier Patrol Officer Sean Collier was shot and killed on April 18, 2013 during a large scale manhunt for suspects in the

Boston Marathon bombing The Boston Marathon bombing was a domestic terrorist attack that took place during the annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Two terrorists, brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, planted two homemade pressure cooker bombs, w ...

. At approximately 10:30 pm one of the subjects approached Officer Collier as he sat in his patrol car and opened fire on him without warning, striking him several times. The subjects then attempted to steal his service weapon but were thwarted by his level-three holster. The suspects then carjacked a vehicle and led police on a pursuit while throwing explosive devices at pursuing units. The pursuit ended in Watertown, where one suspect was killed and a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Police Officer was shot and seriously wounded in a gun battle. The second suspect was captured in Watertown the following evening after another shootout. Officer Collier had served with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Police Department since January 2012 and had previously worked as a civilian employee of the Somerville Police Department. On August 22, 2013, he was posthumously sworn in as a Somerville police officer. He is survived by his parents and five siblings.

Rank structure

Former Ranks *Captain - The rank of Captain was eliminated in 2007 with the retirement of Captain Richard Bongiorno.

Neighboring police departments

* Arlington * Belmont *

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Somerville Somerville may refer to: *Somerville College, Oxford, a constituent college of the University of Oxford Places *Somerville, Victoria, Australia * Somerville, Western Australia, a suburb of Kalgoorlie, Australia * Somerville, New Zealand, a subur ...

Watertown Watertown may refer to: Places in China In China, a water town is a type of ancient scenic town known for its waterways. Places in the United States *Watertown, Connecticut, a New England town **Watertown (CDP), Connecticut, the central village ...

Specifics

*Emergency:

9-1-1 , usually written 911, is an emergency telephone number for the United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Palau, Argentina, Philippines, Jordan, as well as the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), one of eight N11 codes. Like other emergency nu ...

*Non-emergency: +1.617.349.3300 *Address: 125 Sixth Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts USA 02142 **''Former Address: 5 Western Avenue, 02139'' *Marked Patrol Vehicles: 37 *Unmarked Patrol Vehicles: 35, plus 8 narcotics vehicles *Motorcycles: 14 *Bicycles: 22 *Special Vehicles: 8 tactical vehicles, 3 tactical ATVs, 6 trailers *2016 Calls for Service: 98,261

Fleet details

*Ford Police Interceptor - Patrol Units, Traffic Units, and Unmarked Units. *Ford Explorer - Community Relations Unit. *Ford Expeditions - LTs Unit, Traffic Unit, and ERU Unit. *Ford Econoline Series Vans - Traffic Unit and Prisoner Transport Unit. *Ford Econoline Series Box Van - ESU Unit. *Ford 'F' Series - Prisoner Transport Units. *Chevrolet Tahoe - Maintenance Unit. *BMW Motorcycles - Traffic Units. *Toyota Camrys - Command Staff.

Fleet Gallery

Image:Cambridge_MA_Police_Cruiser_(2009)_old1.jpg, City of Cambridge police cruiser, older design (side-view). Image:Cambridge_MA_Police_Cruiser_(2009)_old2.jpg, City of Cambridge police cruiser, older design (front driver's side view). Image:Cambridge_MA_Police_Cruiser_(2009)_new1.jpg, City of Cambridge police cruiser, current design (side-view). Image:Cambridge_MA_Police_Cruiser_(2009)_new2.jpg, City of Cambridge police cruiser, current design (front driver's side view).

References

External links

*
Cambridge Police history

Crime reports by Cambridge neighborhood
{{coord, 42.3675, -71.0858, display=title Harvard University Government of Cambridge, Massachusetts Municipal police departments of Massachusetts 1859 establishments in Massachusetts