Special Report: Going for Gropers

Detective Mark Gillespie, MBTA Police
"We just do the best we can to be as discrete as possible."

Men and women with roving eyes. But they're not passengers.

Detective Mark Gillespie, MBTA Police
"We're watching for everything."

They're cops and only 7News cameras were invited to see the MBTA's groper patrol in action. We agreed to disguise the detectives identities. They are watching this man's every move.

Detective Mark Gillespie, MBTA Police
"We feel like we have good reason to suspect that he's targeting men."

We were watching Brandon Clarke on the orange line. He allegedly assaulted a man days earlier on the T.

Nothing happened on this watch, but Clarke was arrested the very next day when the victim in the original incident identified him from surveillance video.

Men who can't keep their hands to themselves are a growing menace. Jennifer Winnie says she was assaulted on her way to work.

Jennifer Winnie, victim
"It kind of grossed me out. I felt pretty much completely violated."

Trains get very crowded and its hard not to bump into someone else, but many people we spoke with know not all contact is accidental.

T passenger
"No, there's a big difference between someone smacking into you and someone copping a feel."

Gina Scaramella, Boston Area Rape Crisis Center
"It's such a subtle crime so much of the time that it really does take a watchful eye to be able to see what's going on."

Here's an example: MBTA security cameras at the Porter Square station caught one man, in the white coat, inappropriately touching the woman in red. The victim kept walking, probably thinking, "Did he really just do that?" Other crimes aren't so subtle. In September, an Irish National accosted two women, exposing himself while a security camera rolled at symphony station.

The detectives target men traveling alone who seem to be watching other people on the platform. They may let multiple trains pass, then board crowded trains with people they're interested in.

Some detectives are used as decoys. Andrea Purcell arrested one man who kept rubbing a shopping bag against her. She wondered if it was accidental, but then...

Detective Andrea Purcell, MBTA Police
"He took his open hand and ran it across my buttocks."

That's when Purcell arrested him.

Police are even urging victims to use camera phones to click photos of gropers as part of the it's sexual assault awareness program - which began in April.

In the 6 months since it began, fifty-one t riders reported indecent sexual assaults. That's more than double in the same period last year. And groper arrests are up this year.

Chief Paul MacMillian, MBTA Police
"You don't need to put up with someone illegally touching you while you ride the MBTA."

T police say there are things you can do to ward off gropers. Avoid reading or listening to music - that way you'll be more aware of who's around you. If you're traveling when there aren't a lot of riders, sit in the middle car with the train attendant or the first car with the engineer. And if the train's packed and you must stand, try to stand facing out, towards the crowd.

The T hopes its groper patrol will be a fast track solution.

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