Generally I agree with Radley Balko. This time I don't. The officer was told 2 men went into the house. He found 1. Where was the other? How does he know he is not being covered by the other with a gun? How does he know Gates was not being covered by the other with a gun? Once he checked with Harvard that Gates was the valid resident the officer was leaving. At that point Gates went out to the front porch and caused a disturbance trying to gin up the passersby. When he did that then he stepped over the line and the arrest to tamp down the problem was the right thing to do.
Suppose that the other man was still in the house and the officer left and Gates then got robbed and beat up. Would the officer have been right to leave as soon as he discovered Gates was valid? You can bet that Gates would have been complaining that blacks did not get police protection like whites did. I think the officer did the right thing all along and commend him as do the other officers and the police chief. Bruce Majors wrote: > > > The Henry Louis Gates "Teaching Moment" > > > Put the race talk aside: the issue here is abuse of police power, > and misplaced deference to authority > > Radley Balko <http://www.reason.com/staff/show/143.html> | July 27, 2009 > > The arrest of Harvard African-American Studies Professor Henry Louis > Gates has certainly got everyone talking. Unfortunately, everyone's > talking about the wrong issue. > > Responding to a 911 call from a woman who observed Gates prying open > the door to his own home, Cambridge, Massachusetts police Sgt. James > Crowley confronted Gates, and asked him to prove his residency. What > happened next is disputed, but it now seems clear that Gates > mistakenly presumed that Crowley had racially profiled him, and hurled > a barrage of invective at Crowley in response. Crowey has since been > backed up by other officers, some of them black, and it turns out he > was appointed to teach a clinic > <http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D99KBEAO1&show_article=1> on > profiling by a black former Boston police commissioner. > > This has given law-and-order conservatives cause to crow > <http://townhall.com/columnists/KevinMcCullough/2009/07/26/why_stupid_is_as_stupid_does>: > > A liberal academic and friend of President Barack Obama wrongly > accuses a cop of racial prejudice. None of this means racial profiling > doesn't exist (law-and-order types seem torn between arguing that > profiling is a myth > <http://www.city-journal.org/html/11_2_the_myth.html>, and arguing > that it works > <http://www.officer.com/web/online/Operations-and-Tactics/Racial-Profiling-Works/3$32167>). > > It just means that the story in Cambridge was about something else. > > The conversation we ought to be having in response to the July 16 > incident and its heated aftermath isn't about race, it's about police > arrest powers, and the right to criticize armed agents of the government. > > By any account of what happened—Gates', Crowleys', or some version in > between—Gates should never have been arrested. "Contempt of cop," > <http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-07-26/what-a-cop-is-supposed-to-do/> > > as it's sometimes called > <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/dcpolice/deadlyforce/police5page1.htm>, > > isn't a crime. Or at least it shouldn't be. It may be impolite, but > mouthing off to police is protected speech > <http://www.slate.com/id/2223379/>, all the more so if your anger and > insults are related to a perceived violation of your rights. The > "disorderly conduct" charge for which Gates was arrested was intended > to prevent riots, not to prevent cops from enduring insults. Crowley > is owed an apology for being portrayed as a racist, but he ought to be > disciplined for making a wrongful arrest. > > He won't be, of course. And that's ultimately the scandal that will > endure long after the political furor dies down. The power to forcibly > detain a citizen is an extraordinary one. It's taken far too lightly, > and is too often abused. And that abuse certainly occurs against black > people, but not only against black people. American cops seem to have > increasingly little tolerance for people who talk back, even merely to > inquire about their rights. > > In a locally prominent case > <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/15/AR2008041503414_2.html> > > from April 2008, a friend of mine named Brooke Oberwetter was arrested > at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. for, essentially, > dancing. Oberwetter and other libertarians had gathered at the > memorial to quirkily celebrate Jefferson's birthday by silently > dancing to their iPods. When National Park Police asked the group to > leave, Oberwetter hesitated, stopping to ask one officer to explain > what laws or rules they had violated. He arrested her, on the charge > of "interfering with an agency function," > <http://www.theagitator.com/2008/04/13/so-about-that-tree-of-liberty/> > a vague charge similar to Gates' alleged public disturbance. > Oberwetter was never tried, though she was handcuffed and detained for > several hours. She has since filed a civil rights lawsuit > <http://www.abajournal.com/index.php?/magazine/first_amendment_footloose/>against > > the officer and the Park Police. Oberwetter wasn't profiled: She's > white, female, and the daughter of a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia. > > In the wake of both Gates and Obama escalating the arrest into a > national debate about race, too many conservatives took the > instinctively authoritarian tack represented here > <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/21/AR2009072102782.html> > > by /Washington Post/ staff writer Neely Tucker: > > One of the common-sense rules of life can be summed up this way: Don't > Mess With Cops. > > It doesn't matter if you are right, wrong, at home or on the > street, or if you are white, black, Hispanic, Jewish, Muslim or > whatever. When an armed law enforcement officer tells you to cease > and desist, the wise person (a) ceases and (b) desists. > > The End. > > Perhaps on an individual level, this is sound advice. As a general > rule, you ought not provoke someone carrying a gun, whether your > criticism is justified or not. As a broader sentiment, however, it > shows a dangerous level of deference to the government agents in whom > we entrust a massive amount of power. And it comes awfully close to > writing a blank check for police misconduct. > > If there's a teachable moment to extract from Gates' arrest, it's that > arrest powers should be limited to actual crimes. Instead, the > emerging lesson seems to be that you should capitulate to police, all > the time, right or wrong. That's unfortunate, because there are plenty > of instances where you shouldn't. > > The most obvious case where deference to authority can be > counter-productive—both in practice and in principle—is when police > attempt an unlawful search or seizure of your person and property. But > there are plenty of other instances as well, particularly with the > spread of information technology. > > Photographing or videotaping police ought to be a protected form of > expression under any reasonable interpretation of the Constitution. > Yet at the website Photography Is Not a Crime > <http://carlosmiller.com/>, photographer Carlos Miller has tracked > dozens of cases in which police have unlawfully demanded someone cease > photographing on-duty cops. Typically, police demand photographers > hand over their cameras, and those who refuse are often arrested. In > some of the cases, the preserved video or photographs have vindicated > a defendant, or revealed police misconduct. Miller started the site > after he himself was wrongly arrested <http://carlosmiller.com/about/> > for photographing police officers in Miami. > > A week before the Gates incident, the NAACP launched a new website > <http://www.reason.com/blog/show/134881.html> where users can upload > video, photos, and text accounts of police misconduct from their cell > phones. Just days before Gates was arrested, Philadelphia newspapers > reported on a local cop who was captured by a convenience store's > security video brutally assaulting a woman > <http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20090720_Store_video_catches_cop_bullying_woman.html?viewAll=y> > > who had been in a car accident with his son. He then arrested her and > charged /her/ with assaulting /him. /The officer then demanded the > store clerk turn over surveillance video of his attack. The clerk says > other officers made subsequent demands to turn over or destroy the > video. To his credit, the clerk refused. The video vindicated the > woman. The officer has since been suspended. > > After Oakland police officer Johannes Mehserle shot and killed subway > passenger Oscar Grant at point blank range last New Year's Day, police > attempted to confiscate cell phone photos and videos of the shooting. > Fortunately, not everyone complied. > <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKKQ-gzc_Yw> Mehserle will now be > tried for murder. > > In the last few years > <http://www.theagitator.com/2009/06/06/no-charges/> we've seen > numerous other <http://www.wpbf.com/news/19997991/detail.html> > incidents where cell phone videos > <http://www.nypost.com/seven/02292008/news/regionalnews/gal__video_shows_cop_is_punchy_99803.htm> > > and photographs, surveillance video > <http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/06/cop-to-be-sentenced-for-beating-bartender.html?track=email-alert-breakingnews>, > > or handheld video cameras > <http://www.clickorlando.com/news/14060881/detail.html> have both > exposed police misconduct > <http://blogs.dispatch.co.za/dispatchnow/2008/11/18/traffic-cop-assaults-cellphone-man-claim/> > > and shown officers to have falsified police reports > <http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fort-lauderdale/sfl-bn-0304video,0,6043429.story>. > > In most of these cases, the police at various points attempted to > confiscate, alter, or destroy the photographic evidence. > > Still, sentiment like Tucker's is common > <http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NDg0ZDYxOGIxNGM3ZDJjZTMxZWYwZDYyNGU3Y2MwNmE=>. > > Commenting on Gates' arrest, /National Review/'s Jonah Goldberg wrote > <http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NGNhMDBhYzY5ZTAzNTU3NTYyY2JjOGRhZTUxNGIzMzM=> > > that he counts himself among those who are "deferential to police," > and willing to "give cops the benefit of the doubt for a host of > reasons." That's a common position among conservatives. At a > Federalist Society luncheon a few years ago, Bush Solicitor General > Ted Olson praised the Supreme Court for "putting more trust in our > police officers" in recent rulings. Los Angeles Police Department > officer Jack Dunphy (a pseudonym) oddly concluded at /National Review > Online/ that the lesson from the Gates/Crowley affair is that anyone > who asserts his constitutional rights when confronted by a police > officer risks getting shot. > <http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MmQ3NDZmZWFhM2M0YTQzY2YyY2I3NmNkZjBlMTRlMjQ=> > > This deference to police at the expense of the policed is misplaced. > Put a government worker behind a desk and give him the power to > regulate, and conservatives will wax at length about public choice > theory, bureaucratic pettiness, and the trappings of power. And > rightly so. But put a government worker behind a badge, strap a gun to > his waist, and give him the power to detain, use force, and /kill/, > and those lessons somehow no longer apply. > > Police officers deserve the same courtesy we afford anyone else we > encounter in public life—basic respect and civility. If they're > investigating a crime, they deserve cooperation as required by law, > and beyond that only to the extent to which the person with whom > they're speaking is comfortable. Verbally disrespecting a cop may well > be rude, but in a free society we can't allow it to become a crime, > any more than we can criminalize criticism of the president, a > senator, or the city council. There's no excuse for the harassment or > arrest of those who merely inquire about their rights, who ask for an > explanation of what laws they're breaking, or who photograph or > otherwise document police officers on the job. > > What we owe law enforcement is vigilant oversight and accountability, > not mindless deference and capitulation. Whether or not Henry Louis > Gates was racially profiled last week doesn't change any of that. > > /Radley Balko <mailto:%[email protected]> is a senior editor at > /Reason/ magazine./ > > *Discuss this article online. > <http://www.reason.com/blog/show/135051.html#comments>* > > > > On Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 11:26 AM, Sage2 <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > > > The Cambridge Police Department will be holding a news > conference @ 12:00 noon according to Fox News. > Apparently the woman who called in the Gates break in never mentioned > race in her phone call. According to her lawyer she is a Portuguese > woman and is being attacked and demeaned by the liberal media. > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
