Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Crowley to Critics: “Up Against the Wall, and Spread ‘Em!”

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It’s pretty clear that James M. Crowley doesn’t like criticism. He assembled a group of fellow officers today and demanded that the President of the United States and the Governor of the Commonwealth apologize to him for criticizing his botched arrest of an innocent 58 year old man — who he knew was in his own home — that ended in a dismissal of all charges and a declaration by the Cambridge Police Department and the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office that called the arrest “regrettable and unfortunate.”

The next thing that will happen, if history is any guide, is that officer Crowley will remove his handcuffs from their protective case and administer a second warning to his critics. He will then proceed to arrest President Obama, Governor Patrick, and everyone else who has the effrontery to disagree with him, for disorderly conduct.

Sowrya writes: “This is about police authority being challenged.” Tellingly, Alan J. MacDonald, a layer for one of the unions who spoke with Crowley, noted that the decision to dismiss the case “was a decision made without our input.” This, of course, is the way our criminal justice system works: arrest and prosecution are separated to reduce the chance of abuse and protect freedom. MacDonald might prefer it the police had responsibility for prosecution, defense, judgment and sentencing. Heck, we could just have officers convict people on the spot, at the moment of arrest. What could possibly go wrong.

Someone needs to tell Officer Crowley to calm down, try to understand that this was not the most impressive moment in the admirable history of the Cambridge Police Department, and move forward in a constructive way. Impressively, it appears President Obama himself has taken that step and invited Crowley and Gates to the White House for a beer. Good for him: finally, someone is being gracious. If Crowley will get off his high horse and talk with Gates like a human being — the professor has already said he’s open to a one-on-one conversation — perhaps some good can come of this after all.

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Comments

  1. Patrolman Carlos Figueroa says when asked to show an I-D, Gates shouted “No, I will not!” He also says Gates was shouting at Crowley, calling him a racist and saying, “This is what happens to black men in America!”

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    p>http://www.wbz.com/Obama-talks…

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    p>Gates has never met Crowley but initiates the confrontation by shouting and calling a man he has never met a racist. Gates profiled the white police office but it Crowley that you want to act constructively?!

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    p>And he has continued to label Crowley a racist as this issue drags on. Yet Black officers and officials who know Crowley far better than Gates don’t believe Crowley is a racist not acted based on race.

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    p>

    Crowley has taught a class about racial profiling for five years at the Lowell Police Academy after being hand-picked for the job by former police Commissioner Ronny Watson, who is black, said Academy Director Thomas Fleming.

    “I have nothing but the highest respect for him as a police officer. He is very professional and he is a good role model for the young recruits in the police academy,” Fleming told The Associated Press on Thursday.

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    p>http://www.wbz.com/Obama-talks…

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    p>Tellingly, Alan J. MacDonald, a layer for one of the unions who spoke with Crowley, noted that the decision to dismiss the case “was a decision made without our input.”

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    p>Well Bob, if you had provided MacDonald’s full quote it was clear he was saying a trial would have kept this to facts instead of media debates and name calling.

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    “That was a decision that was made without our input,” said McDonald, the lawyer. “We think in retrospect given the publicity that has transpired it would have been better to let the matter go forward to a trial of fact so that the truth could have been disclosed by means other than debates in the media that we’ve seen over the last few days.”

    Another police union attorney at the press conference, Thomas Drechsler, acknowledged that the charge Gates faced of disorderly conduct is “one of the most difficult crimes to define.”

    “You could find hundreds of lawyers who would debate the ups and downs and merits and demerits of any disorderly person arrest,” said Drechsler, a lawyer for the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association. He added, however, that in Gates’s particular case, “you would find many lawyers who would agree that the evidence presented therein would be sufficient to make an arrest.”

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    p>http://www.boston.com/news/loc…

    • I was just talking about the arrest, and the demand for an apology by Crowley.

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      p>As to MacDonald, however, I stand by the statement, and draw your attention once again to the conclusion of the CPD and the D.A.: the arrest was “regrettable and unfortunate.” Q.E.D.

      • Gates has never met Crowley but initiates the confrontation by shouting and calling a man he has never met a racist. Gates profiled the white police office but it Crowley that you want to act constructively?

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        p>According to both Gates and Ogletree, Gates’ lawyer, Gates cannot shout.  He has a bronchial infection and, in fact, was having difficulty breathing at the time of the arrest.

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        p>Also, according to Gates and Ogletree, and not addressed in Crowley’s report, was that Crowley, at the door, said or did something to make Gates feel in danger.   Furthermore, after Gates went to retrieve his license, in his kitchen, he turned and found that Crowley, uninvited, had followed him into the house.  Gates has stated that he felt, then, even more in danger.

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        p>Maybe Crowley just had his ‘cop face’ on.  OK.  Maybe Gates is an excitable guy made more excited by this ‘cop face’.   OK.   But there’s nothing here, on Gates’ part, that rises to the level of arrest for disturbance.

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        p>I think Crowley,  and now Figuero too, knew they screwed up.  I think this ‘disorderly conduct’ thing is a set-up they’ve done countless times to countless other innocents, though none the friend of the POTUS.   I think they are posturing in an effort to to ‘double down’ in order to save their jobs.  Not only did they act stupidly, they KNOW they acted stupidly… and they know that this isn’t the first time.

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        p>And, frankly, I’m getting rather infuriated at the posers and posters here who are defending the cop well past what is seemly.    The worst that can be said about Gates is that he might have jumped to a unwarranted conclusion on profiling.  That’s the worst that can be said about him here.   He walks with a cane, has difficulty breathing, isn’t physically imposing and is nearing 60 years of age.  Anything more blatantly non-disruptive would be a caricature.  And any cop who isn’t able to deal with the harsh words of a wheezing, cane wielding senior citizen doesn’t belong on the force.

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        p>The worst, however,  that can be said about Crowley and Figueroa  is that they abused their authority.  I find it very difficult to believe that this is the first time.   No brainer on who’s side I’m gonna take.

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    • Because, God knows, trials never devolve into media debates and name-calling!

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      p>I assume you were kidding, Striker…

  2. The longer this drags on, the more this looks like two self-important douches who love publicity not knowing when to shut up.  And everyone from Obama to Sharpton is encouraging them.

  3. I think for the most part his calm and often measured demeanor is having a very winning effect on the public.

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    p>I didn’t read today’s event as something orchestrated by him. It seemed a natural response for a union and a department with an officer who has been denounced by such powerful, prominent men.

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    p>The only thing I fault Crowley for so far — beyond the difficult judgment call of arresting someone who is verbally abusing you — is making his first major interview with Dennis & Callahan on ‘EEI. They have a history of open, vicious racism. I hope he didn’t know that.  

    • Pinning the words and actions of some police union honchos on Crowley would be as irresponsible as holding Gates accountable for the comments of Al Sharpton.  The union guys are just looking for leverage.  

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      p>I’m actually impressed with the even handed statements I have heard directly from officer Crowley.  He’s no Joe the Plumber.

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