shootdontshoot

As most of the world knows by now, Sergeant James Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department arrested Henry Louis Gates Jr., a black man, for disorderly conduct at his home, after being sent to the home for a possible burglary. The man arrested is a friend of President Obama's, but Obama's public statements is what stirred up a lot of the controversy. After the arrest, Obama made a public statement about the incident before he even read the report, and stated in a video taped interview "Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof he was in his own home."

However, according to the police report a second officer who witnessed the incident stated "I heard Sgt. Crowley ask for the gentleman's information which he stated "NO I WILL NOT!" The report goes on to say that he (the officer on scene) heard the man continue to accuse Sgt. Crowley of being a racist. He states that Gates yelled out "THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO BLACK MEN IN AMERICA!" It goes on to say that "as the Sgt. was trying to calm the gentleman, the gentleman shouted "You don't know who you're messing with."

The reporting officer explains in his report that he began talking to the neighbor who called the police. This person told the officer that she observed a man "wedging his shoulder into the front door as to pry the door open." This of course is more then enough to raise flags and believe something is wrong.

The officer said there was now a crowd of "onlookers" which he said was about 7 people, and the man and the officers were now on his front porch. He states that Gates shouted to the onlookers from his porch "THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO BLACK MEN IN A AMERICA!" and "refused to be cooperative and continued shouting."

View Actual Police Report

So let's break this down

A neighbor calls the police because she sees a man trying to force open the front door of a home (incidentally this same home that was broken into before). When the police arrive and ask the man for his identification to validate that he does in fact live there, the man says "NO I WILL NOT!" The commotion goes on, and the man is finally arrested after about 7 onlookers are watching the deal, and the man is yelling out to them "THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO BLACK MEN IN AMERICA!"

Next, President Obama, who has no business getting involved in any of this decides to make a public statement in a video taped interview that the "the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home." First of all President Obama, there was no proof; in fact, if that man simply would have produced ID in the first place, this could have all been avoided.

What's your opinion?

From the best we can conclude, the start of everything seems to be when the Sergeant asked the man for his ID and the man refused. This immediately puts the officer in a bad situation because he was sent to the house to check a possible burglary. The only way to determine the man had authority to be there was to check his ID and match it up to the address. What else could the officer had done.

If you side with the man that was arrested, let's take this further. Let's say YOU'RE the officer and are sent to a possible burglary call. When you arrive a person is in the house but refuses to cooperate with you, and refuses to show you their ID. What do you do?

The ACLU's definition of "Racial Profiling"

"Racial Profiling" refers to the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual's race, ethnicity, religion or national origin. Criminal profiling, generally, as practiced by police, is the reliance on a group of characteristics they believe to be associated with crime. Examples of racial profiling are the use of race to determine which drivers to stop for minor traffic violations (commonly referred to as "driving while black or brown"), or the use of race to determine which pedestrians to search for illegal contraband.

Problem: "targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individuals race" Sergeant Crowley was accused of racial profiling, yet he was sent to the call. He didn't pick this guy out at random defined by the ACLU as "targeting," he was sent.

Our Opinion

It's clear to us that the Sergeant did nothing wrong based on the information and report we observed. The moment the man said "He will not" was when things went bad. We understand the man was in his own home, but what he should have taken into consideration is that the police don't know that.

Furthermore, what does it say about the President when he is accusing the Cambridge Police (and all police for that matter) of racial profiling when he himself pointed out that there was a "long history" in the United States of blacks and Hispanics being singled out disproportionately by police. "That's just a fact." (source: reuters). Obama, we agree with you, that may very well have been true years ago. But your statement shows that you yourself are profiling the police and "assuming" we are singling out people out based on their color, which we are not. Even more pathetic is when the President's advisors realized they needed to take action to calm the waters on the situation. They have Obama come out with a statement, but Obama can't bring himself to apologize for something he almost single handedly started.

And what about Gates taking no responsibility for his actions. He can't even acknowledge that he has an obligation to produce ID in that situation? Or is that he simply has a chip on his shoulder and assumes that all white people don't like him because he's black? He stated that he expected the Sergeant to apologize to him for the incident. For what? Doing his job?