Ladies and Gentlemen I present to you the Three Stooges; Professor Henry Louis Gates, Sergeant James Crowley, and President Barack Hussein Obama. I’m compelled to comment on the “The Cambridge MA Arrest Incident”. Have you ever seen three very important men in our society act in such an immature manner? Whether it was a celebrated and accomplished policeman and professor caught up in a snit with neither one willing to back down or the president who decides to speak out for a friend.
So now this trio’s little snit dominates the news with just about everyone acting in a kneejerk manner and choosing sides. My fellow citizens, when are we going to stop doing this? Especially the TV and Radio pundits who are so geared to suck a dollar out of every incident we are faced with. They have analyzed this incident to death. Let me just say, this incident doesn’t demand any detail analysis or scrutiny beyond the first three minutes of the initial encounter between the policeman and the professor.
It is proven that when doing a root cause analysis of any incident involving two or more adults it is safe to say that the root cause can be found within the first 3 minutes of the encounter. It is no different for the Sgt. James Crowley and Professor Louis Gates encounter. As a matter of fact this is a classic adult encounter that turned ugly and what is really interesting is that it is documented and described brilliantly in Sgt. James Crowley’s police report. Anyone who goes farther than the first 3 minutes of this encounter is simply looking to generate trouble or is driven to defend one or more of the participants for personal reasons. It is imperative that we all learn to be objective and fair in these matters or at a minimum give the impression that we are, especially our friends in the media.
Well let’s just sum it up.
The police report can be found here:
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/download/2009/0720/20120754.pdf
Using Sgt. James Crowley’s police report, is there anywhere in his report that describes the first 3 minutes of his encounter with Professor Gates? By George, as luck would have it, look at paragraph 1, page 2, and sentences 1 through 7. You can now see why Sgt. Crowley’s fellow officers and all of the police unions have high regard for him. In these 7 sentences he has described in detail the initial 3 minutes and those 7 sentences tell us everything we need in order to understand what happened.
We know that the dutiful officer Sgt. Crowley was placed at the scene by responding to a possible home invasion crime at Professor Gates’ home address because he was close by. We also know that Professor Gates was placed at the scene because, well quite frankly, it turns out to be his home.
After arriving at the scene Sgt. Crowley spoke with the concerned neighbor after which he turns and walks up the stairs to Professor Gates’ door. He observed an older gentleman in the home and he made sure that he was in plain view so that the older gentleman could see him. Well it is safe to say they both could see each other. Sgt. Crowley asked the older gentleman, “will you step onto to the porch and speak with me”.
Well this was the beginning of the end. You know what’s missing in this report from the otherwise brilliant description of the first 3 minutes of the incident is, what was Sgt. Crowley observing Professor Gates doing while they both stood in plain view of each other? Would a suspected burglar continue to burglarize while in plain view of a police officer? Hmmm.
So Professor Gates responded to Sgt. Crowley’ request to come outside onto the porch and speak with him with, “no I will not” and demanded to know who the officer was. Okay, does anyone out there besides me see where this “National Snit” could have ended right here?
Sgt. Crowley, being in plain view of someone doesn’t verify or validate that you are really a police officer. Oh and Sgt. Crowley, if you haven’t reached out to the community and the citizens don’t know you, have you ever stopped to think that you might be seen as a stranger until proven otherwise? We teach our citizens from the time that they are able to understand to “never open the door for a stranger”. Since the national media has made this a “right or wrong” issue, please someone, tell me what was wrong with Professor Gates demanding to know who the officer was?
Anyway, escalation is occurring. A routine police call is beginning to spin out of control. Spin out of control? Well let’s address this because since this is police initiated activity it is incumbent upon the law enforcement officer to maintain order while enforcing the law. It is his responsibility to ensure that it doesn’t escalate into anything higher.
So how would Sgt. Crowley maintain order while enforcing the law? Well according to his fellow officers, the police unions, all the right-wing pundits (my God, who let them into this discussion), and the remaining apologist for how Sgt. Crowley behaved, this seemingly routine investigation should have been a walk in the park for such a celebrated officer. It should never have resulted in an arrest.
Presentation and messaging, oh my. You know, I’m still baffled and confused as to why Sgt. Crowley felt that just because he was in plain view that someone should just accept the fact that he was a police officer. A uniform does not a police officer make that is why they have a badge and an ID. It should not have been unreasonable for citizen Gates to request this information if he were skeptical.
If Sgt. Crowley is as accomplished as all of his fellow officers and the police unions swear he is, I’m certain that he could have calmed the situation by simply providing information identifying himself to Professor Gates. It amazes me that the right-wing fools out there especially the “birthers” always say, “Well President Obama could shut down this cry about him not being a citizen by providing a birth certificate”. Now they use a different standard for this police officer. Why? Oh I know why just thought I would tease you.
So Sgt. Crowley’s approach agitated Professor Gates as well it should have. We also see that after the initial 3 minutes that the whole idea about a possible crime in progress flies right out the window. It is safe to say that we can stop reading the remainder of the police report because now, the EGOS have landed! It is now the accomplished and celebrated officer against the accomplished and celebrated professor.
You must all forgive me but I’m still trying to understand why Officer Crowley feels that one should take his word that he is a police officer simply because he said he was. Maybe an officer who has made outreach into the community could be afforded such an attitude but someone who hasn’t…. hmmm I don’t know. This confuses me.
Okay, I won’t insult your intelligence anymore because we all see the “stupidity” here and why the incident spun out of control. But I do have a question for the Sgt. Crowley apologists. Would you just step outside of your house if a supposed policeman who you weren’t familiar with came to your door and asked you to step outside? We know you wouldn’t and we also know you would demand more information before you came anywhere near your door and unlocked it.
Professor Gates’ should never have had to ask Sgt. Crowley who he was!
I repeat, Sgt. Crowley should never have had to ask Sgt. Crowley who he was!
That courtesy should have been a key component of Sgt. Crowley’s presentation and it wasn’t and what’s worse is that all of his fellow officers and the police unions actually see a stellar performance by Sgt. Crowley. That is another tease you moment. Once again, the danger in this is that citizens are being asked to accept anyone in uniform as being official until proven otherwise. That is really a dangerous proposition.
So now that the situation has boiled over it is time to see whose feelings end up getting hurt. Sides are being taken and teams are being formed. Someone has to come out a winner. Someone has to be right and someone has to be wrong. Where are the folks out there who think that both of guys are A–holes?
So the accomplished Harvard Professor who apparently had to break into his home because either he lost his key or suddenly forgot how to use it. Did the professor ever stop to think that maybe his breaking into his home might cause a noise that would startle neighbors? Did the professor ever stop to think that someone might have witnessed his actions and became concerned? Did the Professor ever stop to think that the job of a policeman is to investigate crimes, even possible crimes?
Why didn’t Professor Gates take the opportunity to rise above the situation and de-escalate the rising tensions? Even if Professor Gates was in his home why couldn’t he take the opportunity to explain his concerns to the officer? After all he is an accomplished and celebrated teacher and mentor as those defending him would have you believe. Why didn’t he take the opportunity to make a difference by stepping up and taking the lead? His actions could have gone a long way in helping police relations especially in those minority communities that the President mentioned in his response. Improving police relations in our communities is not a one-way street. Improved community relations are not just going to happen because we want the officers to be more sensitive and correct their behavior. It is imperative that all of us especially in the minority communities do our parts in helping our law enforcement officials understand our concerns. Professor Gates missed a very important teaching moment. Why? You know why, I’m just teasing you.
Well what would a good domestic dispute between two hard-headed EGOS be without dragging the president of United States into it? Mr. Obama infamously described the Cambridge Police Department as having behaved stupidly in this incident? So all hell broke loose and what does the President do? He backs away from his comment instead of making every person do homework and read the police report. I guarantee you that after he had read the description of the first 3 minutes of the encounter between Sgt. Crowley and Professor Gates; he would use words stronger than stupidly.
But the President’s problem was that he was at a presidents press conference and took the side of his friend over the police officer. Does anyone other than me see the problem here? Mr. Obama stood in Grant Park on election night and told us he would be the president of all Americans. As President Mr. Obama you don’t have the luxury of being biased. I understand that you explained that you didn’t have all of the facts so at that point he should have withheld judgment. You certainly should have used that moment as a teaching moment and describe how Professor Gates could have gone a long way in helping to improve community relations by speaking to the officer about his concerns rather than shouting across the entire Eastern Seaboard that the kid was racist. After all Mr. President you have been taking a lot of criticism of late about your message of personal responsibility during speeches to African-American audiences. Shouldn’t your African-American friend Mr. Gates have taken personal responsibility and helped Sgt. Crowley understand his concerns? Fair and balance Mr. President.
Well as I said before anything in Sgt. Crowley’s police report past the 7th sentence of paragraph one of page 2 is totally irrelevant to the argument. After that point what is documented in the report is a cause to have both of them placed in time-out or better yet arrested and booked.
I realize that everyone has a bad day or an off day. I’m willing to give all three of these gentlemen the benefit of the doubt. The best thing that can happen is for them to go out and get drunk and work out their issues. Afterwards they owe the American public an apology for bringing us into such a childish snit.
By the way for the leaders at the Cambridge Police Department who have read this police report especially paragraph 1 of page 2 which describes the initial encounter between Sgt. Crowley and Professor Gates; if you don’t understand the gross breakdown in Sgt. Crowley’s presentation then you should be removed from your leadership roles in law enforcement immediately.
wildweezle(© Wildweezle Enterprises)
© 2009, WILDWEEZLE'S WEBLOG. All rights reserved.