Half the reason I moved from Watertown had to do with the cops there. I have no criminal record and…read morehave never been violent nor threatened anyone. Yet I was threatened and belittled so many times by the police that I felt I could no longer safely live in Watertown.
In summer 2012 I went alone to the police dept to report a crime done against me. I had been assaulted. I had a written statement for them. I was doing this on encouragement from my acupuncturist, who felt I needed some closure on the issue.
In retrospect, now that six full years have passed since then, I realize the cops never intended to take me seriously in the first place. They didn't even try to take me seriously. I was profiled even before I got there. He was the law-abiding citizen and I was a piece of trash to them. When II left there, after they told me I had "fabricated the story," I just felt numb. Nothing. Then months or perhaps years later I realized just how wrong it all was.
I lived in public housing and that was half the problem. We were all treated badly by the police. In fact, I recall my neighbors discussing this very same issue one night. Many stated they were afraid to call 911, ever, because they'd get accused of a crime they never committed, or they'd have their place searched.
Because of the way the cops treated me and my fellow neighbors I have a fear of the sound of sirens, to this very day. Most of my elderly neighbors were hard of hearing but I could hear the cops every time they came in. Once, the cops and other first responders came to help a neighbor who only spoke Armenian. I didn't see what was going on, but i heard them yell and threaten her, saying, "Speak English!" They said they wouldn't help her unless she did. I felt so sorry for her, and I didn't know what to do (except write about it).
They had keys to all the apartments. They took their liberties. Once I went out with my dog and heard the ambulance come while we were out. I returned to find the cops had broken into all our apartments. My door was left ajar. I complained to the housing authority. They didn't care. I never, ever felt safe there, never felt i had the privacy in my own home we are supposedly granted in this country. I hated being scared of them all the time.
In 2013 I went into kidney failure. I recall leaving the place fairly clean and neat, but when I returned from being in there 11 days, my place had been torn apart. It hadn't been broken into. It had been searched. To this day I don't know who authorized this illegal search (we have laws here, remember?). I hadn't committed a crime nor did they have a warrant. I found out pretty quickly what they'd come looking for, and it sure wasn't anything illegal. Do they realize they are raiding the place of a human being who has the same rights as any other citizen? How could they justify this?
On January 10, 2014 I came home from a long day out in the cold in Boston. Ten minutes after my return there was a loud knock on the door. It was "them." What on earth?
What happened next was shocking. To this day I can't believe what they did. There was one cop and two people from my church. They accused me of planning to kill someone! They had no warrant and didn't have a single bit of paperwork nor valid evidence. Finally, I got them out of there. I know now that part of this was retaliation on the part of the church, but why did the cop (Melissa) go along with it? Was the church paying her on the side? Was she on duty at the time? You would think a cop would know the law, and refuse to do this. It was illegal!
The best thing I ever did was to leave Watertown far behind. I was really trapped there in that situation. After I left I phoned up a couple of the state legislators and told them what happened, reported everything. I am not sure that anything was done, but at least they believed me. I want justice, of course, at least a formal apology.
In writing this review I hope my story gets the visibility it deserves.
I love living where I am not profiled, not seen as a violent criminal by the local police when by all means, I am not. I am certain that if I ever reported a crime where I live now, i'll be taken seriously. And privacy! Blessed privacy!
If you are being treated badly where you are, consider relocating far away and starting over. It really changes things to find new people and situations. If you feel trapped like I did, know that there is likely a way out. You just have to be persistent, have hope, and don't give up.