To the Editors of The Crimson:

Let me make two comments concerning your March 17th story on crime at Harvard.

First, the Police Department strongly favors letting the community know when crime occurs at Harvard. We immediately took a number of steps to tell the students, faculty and staff that a rape had occurred at the Science Center. We systematically do other things, such as the publication of the weekly flyer for posting in the Houses. We are always willing to sit down with a Crimson reporter on a weekly basis to discuss what is happening. Every few years, The Crimson takes us up on this offer and runs weekly stories, but then your interest seems to wane. We would encourage you to run weekly stories as a community service.

Second, prior to the December 1988 rape in the Science Center, the last reported rape at Harvard was in August, 1987. Please forgive Mr. Steiner for responding to a question over the telephone last December by saying he thought the previous rape had occurred 18 months earlier. Paul E. Johnson   Director Police and Security   Chief of Police Harvard University Police Department (HUPD)