{"id":172,"date":"2009-07-25T14:25:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-25T14:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/2009\/07\/25\/172\/"},"modified":"2010-05-12T19:51:07","modified_gmt":"2010-05-13T00:51:07","slug":"172","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/?p=172","title":{"rendered":"The Gates Arrest"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE GATES ARREST:<\/span> BEYOND<\/span> BLACK<\/span> AND<\/span> WHITE<\/span><\/span> — OK, here’s my 0.02 about the recent arrest of Harvard Professor Henry L. Gates by a white police sergeant investigating a report of a break-in at Prof. Gates’ home. Most writers take the bate and go right for the race issue. I’d like to go beyond that question, and instead focus on the general relationship between the police and the public. Yes, I know that racial status has a lot to do with how many police officers treat a person. I’m not denying that that is a real problem, an on-going social dilemma. But it seems to me that even between police officers and members of the public who share the same race, there is still a problem; and that Sergeant Crowley’s decision to arrest Professor Gates may well exemplify that problem, more than the racial problem.<\/p>\n

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-police. I work for a law enforcement agency; I’m not an armed officer, but I know a lot of them. They are all good people, in my book. But there is a certain cliquishness, a certain bravado that they share amongst themselves. And that has to be<\/span>. Cops are the people charged with the duty of running into a crazy situation where lives may be at stake, and to restore social control and order. They are trained to go into situations where a Hamletian approach (my own modulus operandi in life) doesn’t work, and can even get you killed. I respect them for that.<\/p>\n

But they also get sent into situations where assertion and bluster can be counterproductive. And they are trained to turn down the “police attitude” in those instances, to try to be calm and communicative while maintaining control of the situation. They generally do a good job with that. But in the end, they are only human. They don’t enjoy situations where they are conscientiously doing their job, but are accused of racism for it (and in a highly charged fashion). At some point, everyone can break. Some are stronger than others in this regard; some have better control than others. But everyone will break at some point. I believe that Sargent Crowley reached that point when Professor Gates followed him off the porch while hurling continuing invective. The Sargent flipped back to “maximum cop” mode, and his instinctive training took over. Out came the handcuffs, and the arrest procedure began. The words probably flowed from Sgt. Crowley with mechanical precision. “You are under arrest. You have the right to . . .” <\/p>\n

Was the arrest justified by law? I’m not an expert on disorderly conduct statutes and their interpretations by the courts. But my hunch is that the Constitutional values regarding the sanctity of the home would outweigh the “public order” concerns in a situation like this one. Gates was still on his home property when arrested; the investigation phase had already concluded, Crowley knew by then that Gates was allowed to be there. Gates was not threatening the well-being of Sgt. Crowley. The Sargent knew that Gates didn’t have a weapon and was not otherwise threatening physical violence. Gates did imply that he would use bureaucratic and political means to make Sgt. Crowley’s life miserable in the future. But so long as he wasn’t threatening to go outside the system (e.g. “I’ll get the Crips after you”), there’s nothing wrong with that. Crowley’s police report indicates that about seven people were gathered on the street near the home, but there is no indication of any public activity disruption.<\/p>\n

Had Gates followed Crowley into the street and threatened to create a public nuisance (by attracting a crowd that interfered with traffic, or by inciting others to interfere with police actions), then I believe that a disorderly conduct arrest would be proper. But if you are on your home turf and you decide to yell negative comments at any law enforcement personnel within earshot, then I believe you would be within your Constitutional rights so long as you don’t threaten them with harm or significantly impede public activity around your home.<\/p>\n

BUT — DO NOT RELY ON WHAT I SAY HERE. I AM NOT<\/span> AN EXPERT ON THE LAW. This is just my opinion on what SHOULD be the law, based on my understanding of the history and heritage of our nation. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!! <\/p>\n

I really discourage anyone from hurling negative comments at the police, even if such action is protected by the Constitution. I believe that we American citizens have duties that are not spelled out in the law. We need to do more than just not break the law (aside from technical violations, which every one of us does just about every day; e.g. not completely stopping at a stop sign when driving, even if you were down to less than 1 MPH when you saw the way to be clear; the law says STOP and it means FULL STOP!!). If our social and economic system is to keep working, we need to contribute something more to the social network. And almost all of us do, in our own ways. E.g., caring for children, helping the elderly and frail, volunteering time in a social service agency or a hospital, smiling and listening as to help cheer up people, giving a stranger directions, etc. (And yes, there are rare instances where breaking the law might point to a higher moral plane; as with Gandhi and the salt march, or the Berrigans and their anti-nuclear protests, or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement). <\/p>\n

Well, another way that we can contribute to the strength of our social fabric is by cooperating with the police, within reason. No, I’m not saying that police racial profiling or other excesses of discretion should be tolerated. But someone in Professor Gates’ shoes might have realized that police have a tough job, and that if you push then too far with negative emotions, they may not handle the situation properly. Yes, police are generally “tough lugs”, but at bottom they are human. If citizens want good policing, the best policing possible, then they have to be a part of it too. And that includes making sure you have all your facts straight before you accuse a police officer of exercising his or her power in a racist fashion.<\/p>\n

So I believe that Sargent Crowley was wrong in arresting Professor Gates, but I don’t think it was based on racial grounds (and given all the circumstances, I don’t think that Crowley should be reprimanded; although police superiors throughout the country should use this as a “teachable moment” regarding disorderly conduct laws as they apply within a personal residence). From what I know about cops, they will go after you no matter what color you are, if you let them know that you’re \u201cnot on their side”. Sure, some will “go to gladiator mode” quicker with people of color; but I think that most cops are pretty fair about that. The thing is, they may “go gladiator” on you even within the boundaries of your Constitutional rights, if you are stupid enough to push them. <\/p>\n

Professor Gates is calling for an apology from Crowley; but he hasn’t been willing to admit that he himself violated a civic responsibility, albeit an unwritten one. Despite all his PhD’s and Harvard acclaim, he seems to be missing something from Civics 101. Hopefully, President Obama will give Professor Gates a Civics refresher course when they all get together for that beer. Teach away, Professor Obama; make us all less “stupid”<\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE GATES ARREST: BEYOND BLACK AND WHITE — OK, here’s my 0.02 about the recent arrest of Harvard Professor Henry L. Gates by a white police sergeant investigating a report of a break-in at Prof. Gates’ home. Most writers take the bate and go right for the race issue. I’d like to go beyond that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=172"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1523,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172\/revisions\/1523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}