Posted on 07/29/2009 5:14:47 AM PDT by Kaslin
A few minutes into the police encounter that ended with his arrest for disorderly conduct, Henry Louis Gates Jr. reportedly exclaimed, "This is what happens to black men in America!" It would be more accurate to say this is what can happen to anyone who makes the mistake of annoying a cop.
Whether or not race played a role in the incident, Cambridge police Sgt. James Crowley clearly abused his authority, retaliating against the Harvard professor for his disrespect by hauling him away in handcuffs. The highly publicized arrest illustrates the threat posed by vague laws that give too much discretion to police officers who conflate their own personal dignity with public safety.
Crowley, responding to a report of a possible burglary in progress from a woman who saw Gates forcing open a jammed door to his house, quickly realized he was not dealing with a break-in. Gates explained that he lived in the house, which he leases from Harvard, and supplied a university ID confirming that he was a member of the faculty. Gates says he became angry because Crowley nevertheless continued to question him.
Even if we accept Crowley's version of events, the arrest was not justified (a conclusion reinforced by the city's decision to drop the charge). Let's say Gates did initially refuse to show his ID -- an understandable response from an innocent man confronted by police in his own home. Let's say he immediately accused Crowley of racism and behaved in a "loud and tumultuous" fashion. So what? By Crowley's own account, he arrested Gates for dissing him. That's not a crime, or at least it shouldn't be.
In Massachusetts, as in many states, the definition of disorderly conduct is drawn from the American Law Institute's Model Penal Code. A person is considered disorderly if he "engages in fighting or threatening, violent or tumultuous behavior … with purpose to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm" or "recklessly creates a risk thereof."
Crowley claims Gates recklessly created public alarm by haranguing him from the porch of his house, attracting a small crowd that included "at least seven unidentified passers-by" as well as several police officers. Yet it was Crowley who suggested that Gates follow him outside, thereby setting him up for the disorderly conduct charge.
It's hard to escape the conclusion that Crowley was angered and embarrassed by Gates' "outburst" and therefore sought to create a pretext for arresting him. "When he has the uniform on," Crowley's wife later told The New York Times, "Jim has an expectation of deference."
As the Massachusetts Appeals Court has noted, "the theory behind criminalizing disorderly conduct rests on the tendency of the actor's conduct to provoke violence in others." Yet police officers often seem to think the purpose of such laws is to punish people for talking back to cops.
"You don't get paid to be publicly abused," Michael J. Palladino, president of New York City's Detectives Endowment Association, told the Times last week. "There are laws that protect against that." A Brooklyn police officer agreed, saying, "I wouldn't back down if there's a crowd gathering. If there's a group and they're throwing out slurs and stuff, you have to handle it."
In this context, the relevance of the gathering crowd is not the potential for a riot but the potential for losing face. A policy of zero tolerance for public slights may be appropriate for a gangster, but it's not appropriate for a peace officer charged with enforcing the law.
Among other things, the law guarantees the right of citizens to criticize public officials.
Sometimes the criticism is justified. In fact, the more outrageous police misconduct is, the more likely it is to provoke an angry response that can be cited as the basis for a disorderly conduct arrest.
When a police officer faces unfair criticism, the best response may be to walk away. Sometimes swallowing your pride takes more courage than standing your ground.
While I’m not endorsing the tin-horn bigotry of Gates, I agree completely with the sentiments in this article. Police are no better than anyone else, and the notion that one owes them some sort of meek deference at the risk of harassment or arrest is counter to every principle of individual liberty.
Henry Louis Gates ABTLWB above the law while black.
Wrong! The city's decision to drop the charge was made after intervention by the (black) mayor of Cambridge and the (black) governor of Massachusetts.
I wonder what the left would have said if the races were reversed, and instead of yelling “yer mama” the homeowner had used the “n” word.
Ah, no.
BTW, i’ve heard thought the grape vine that Crowley was once standing on a street, in plain cloths, unidentified, when then a Fed-Ex driver told him to get the f out of the way, Crowley got in and chased him down in his unmarked, pulled the Fed-Ex truck over, read him the riot act, called Fed-Ex and tried to get the guy fired.
BTW, I just pulled something out of my ass that I'm going to read now...
Love your home page... Michael Crichton and HK USP .45... want that to be my next handgun purchase.
That’s bunk.
Sgt. Crowley was there because someone called in a possible crime. He was trying to protect people and property. Cops don’t need “lip” from creeps slowking them down and interfering with their job.
Unless, of course, you want to try calling a hippy the next time there is a break-in in your area.
I got the name of the driver, otherwise I wouldn’t of posted it.
What other items you pull out of your ass is your business. Sounds like a hard way to make rent money.
The issue is that there are too many laws. Cops are there to enforce them on those who attract the cops’ attention. If one wants to take out frustration with enforcement, do it in a court. Otherwise take one’s frustrations out on the legislative bodies where the real blame lies.
Yeah. People should remember Waco and Ruby Ridge. When fellow citizens in pubic jobs show up, people should do the Chinese peasant, bow heads, look at feet.
Crowley was a chump. Any experience cop should/would of defused.
The thing is, if you read Crowley’s report on Smokinggun, what a bureaucratic process junkie. I.E, the model of a modern cop. Rule bound, rigid, bureaucratic, inflexible, bad syntax, language skills. Medics, EMT, nurses, Doctors all meet abusive, foul, HIV and such people all the time, often in close contact for hours. Now, those are professionals.
Gee, who would OF thought? :D
Let's fix that a bit. "Cops are there choose to enforce them on.."
Who would do, or like such a job? Being the annoying heavy for scum politicians and lousy legislature and the flood on laws?
Cops, police are not victims of 'the system'. They are willing, if not competitive actors in the enFORCEing of the flood of liberty reducing laws. I have great confidence that if the round up the guns, Jews, whatever, comes, you local friendly police will only be way to happy to obey.
Not that they (the police) don't have reason to be paranoid or defensive in many situations today, but I've seen the reactionary behavior go to far in straightforward circumstances.
I comment because recently we were pulled over by the California Highway Patrol, and you know what? That officer was genuinely civil and even conversant. In California! (Of course my wife is a charmer.) Try Maryland sometime. Oh, for more innocent times.
Never met a .45 I didn’t like.
I’m a 1911 fan, preferably used with light surface rust, chipped old walnut grips, that I can leave under the truck seat for months at a time.
Bump.
How dumb is Gates, supposedly the master of language that he not only didn’t he just get it done and over but worked it up.
He did it because he is a racists. Also he wanted his street cred. No doubt there will be a book. Also, the class angle, how dare some beer swilling, white working class tradesman type no defer to the elite, hAR-VAARRR-D professor.
Gates was throwing his weight around, and Crowley trumped him. Gates is winning in the MSM (of course), Crowley in the workplace and tap rooms.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.