New Law Will Aid Apartment Security

Under new law enacted last night by the City Council all rented apartments in Cambridge will be required to have an electric communications system connecting the main door to individual apartments. The law, passed by a 7-1 vote, was introduced by Councillor Alfred E. Vellucci in the wake of the murder of Mrs. Ada C. Bean of 41 Linnean Street of February 5.

Residents of the apartment where Mrs. Bean lived testified that a communications system would decrease the number of robberies and other crimes occurring in such buildings. They reported that since Mrs. Bean's murder five fires have occurred in the building, all of them set by arsonists, and several persons have been observed trying forcibly to enter apartment rooms.

The communications systems specified by the law will enable persons entering a building 40 identify themselves before being permitted entrance by the occupant. The law provides for such a system on all apartments with three or more units. College dormitories and motels are exempted from the law, but all other housing, including public, is covered.

Several landlords testified that other systems of communications should be explored before any law was enacted. They pointed out that the expense for installing the system would be passed on to the tenant.