City Declared ‘Domestic Violence-Free Zone’

There are nuclear-free zones and drug-free zones. Now Cambridge has declared itself a “domestic violence-free zone” and has posted 60 street signs trumpeting its hard line against batterers.

Few people think the signs, which show an open hand blocking a fist, will stop abusers. But that’s not the point, a city official says.

“The idea is to make a statement that we’re going to enforce these laws,” City Council member Katherine Triantafillou said.

“The sign itself is not going to change things. It’s the education that arises from that commitment,” she said.

The signs stem from a 1994 city resolution to better coordinate efforts against domestic violence, which figured in a third of the assaults in Cambridge last year.

The signs, unveiled recently outside public buildings, appear to be attracting little notice.

“Cambridge Is a Domestic Violence-Free Zone,” they say, above a fist-and-palm symbol. “Abuse Prevention Laws Will Be Enforced.”

One sign at a busy intersection near the Middlesex County Courthouse competes for attention with others that regulate parking and urge dog owners to clean up after their pets.

“Just putting signs up won’t do a hell of a lot,” said John O’Neil of Rochester, N.H., who said he hadn’t noticed the warning when he passed by.

But people who deal with the effects of domestic violence say any gesture is welcome.

“When a woman is killed, then everybody knows it’s wrong. The problem is, the behavior that leads up to that act is more often tolerated than not,” said Barbara Hildt, a former state representative who is coordinating a statewide violence-prevention project.

Nineteen women and three bystanders have been killed this year in domestic attacks around the state, according to the Massachusetts Coalition of Battered Women Service Groups.