Brookline Woman Reports Peeping Tom on Winthrop Road

BROOKLINE, MA - A Winthrop Road resident called police on April 29 to report she saw a man in the driveway behind her building looking into her room while she was undressed, possibly filming her with a cell phone. The woman described him as a white male, in his 30s or 40s, heavy set, average height and wearing a brown and white striped shirt and white sneakers, according to the Brookline Police log.

This comes a couple weeks after a similar incident was reported on Park Street.

Police said they're following up with both but don't believe it's related to the suspect up at Wellesley College who was recently charged.

"We recommend if you're living on the first floor and you're concerned about privacy just keep your shades closed and if you see anything suspicious call us and we'll investigate immediately," said Deputy Superintendent Michael Gropman.

Despite the two incidents, this is not something that happens every day in Brookline. In 2015, the Brookline Police Department arrested a man accused of peeping into a Brighton home while a woman was showering, the Brookline TAB reported.

But the incident does come after a slight uptick in the number of reported rapes in town. In 2015 there was only one rape reported. In 2016 there were six reported rapes. In 2016 that was the only crime that increased. In four of the cases, the suspect knew the victim while in two of the cases, it was a stranger who they met the night of the incident. So far this year there have been three reported rapes.

Still, police caution not to correlate the two.

"The myth is that peeping toms elevate to rapists and that's not at all the case. They're totally different types of subjects," said Gropman. "People would think that that's it, but the science says otherwise. That's a real fallacy."

And, total crime reported between January 1 and April 30 is down in Brookline from 228 reports last year to 220 this year comparing months year to year, according to police data.

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