AVP Launches Inquiry into Controversial Provincetown Arrest
The Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project today sent a Public Records Act request to Acting Chief Warren Tobias of the Provincetown Police Department. On Monday, the Town of Provincetown rejected the group?s call for an investigation into the use of force in connection with the July 14th arrest of Boston Disc Jockey Barry Scott. Mr. Scott was injured in the course of the violent arrest, which was prompted by allegations that he was playing his famous ?Lost 45?s? too loudly at a back yard birthday party. Provincetown also rejected pleas that charges against Mr. Scott be dropped given the significant civil liberties concerns surrounding the episode, particularly the warrantless entry onto private property to effect the arrest and the disregard of Mr. Scott?s First Amendment free speech rights.
?There are a lot of unanswered questions raised by this very troubling arrest, and the Town of Provincetown is unwilling even to look into them,? said Don Gorton, the group?s Chairperson. ?Accordingly, we have launched our own inquiry into serious concerns relating to police practice and procedures that this episode has brought to light,? Gorton continued.
Among the causes for concern are questions about poor training and inadequate screening and supervision of college-age ?seasonal officers? employed for the summer, and the heavy-handed police response to complaints about non-criminal noise violations. Other questions relate to police sensitivity to cultural diversity?the party broken up was attended by gay men, while the arresting officers, Bova and Barone, are reportedly heterosexual; the detention of individuals in ?protective custody??Mr. Scott?s partner was placed in a jail cell without medical care for the night though accused of no crime; Provincetown?s ability to respond optimally to sexual orientation-based hate crimes; and Provincetown?s administrative remedies for instances of police misconduct.
Given the Acting Chief?s refusal to turn over information about the arrest to the press voluntarily, the Anti-Violence Project is seeking all relevant documents within the scope of the Massachusetts Public Records Law. If agency heads fail to provide requested public documents, the law allows for an appeal to be taken to the Secretary of State?s Office. The orders of that office are judicially enforceable. The Anti-Violence Project has established a Legal Defense Fund to assist Mr. Scott in fighting the charges.
I’m not alone in wondering why the acting police chief would withhold the reports of the other officers involved.
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Here’s an interesting piece of information for people to consider. When I called the police station about this incident, I was first told they did not have the names of the officers involved. I asked for the name of the Officer in Charge, then was told to please hold. After several minutes waiting on the phone, the dispatcher came back and told me only the names of the veteran full time officers, and failed to mention the other two. I asked her how long they had been on the force, and she got right off the phone, like she thought I was calling her out on her omission.
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Interviews will be conducted with the neighbors in the surrounding houses, and with the complainant in order to get a feel for what else is being omitted. There seems to be more to this story than a noise complaint and an overzealous cop.
Or is this only about the ability to petition the government vis a vis a FOIA request? Don’t want you to get all upset and all.
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P.S. you know this story is news because the Inside Track Girls have picked it up.
There seems to be more to this story than a noise complaint and an overzealous cop.
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…didn’t you wait for more information before you lept to the to-you-obvious conclusion that it was an anti-gay hate crime on the part of the P’Town police department? Which was the thrust of your original post.
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Listen up and listen well. I have no doubt that there are bias crimes committed against people who are gay, and people who the perps believe to be gay (there is a difference). But bias crimes are accompanied by evidence that the crimes were committed because of bias. You lept to the conclusion that the police brutality (if it were such, and let’s assume it was) was because the victims were perceived to be gay, without any evidence. That was your failing.
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I’ll return to another theme. As I wrote, I have no doubt that there are bias crimes committed against people who are gay, and people who the perps believe to be gay. Crying, as you appeared to have done, that an apparent crime committed against someone who happens to be gay, is a bias crime, is actually counter-productive. It suggests that you believe that every crime is a bias crime, which is silly. That, I can tell you, is precisely the argument that the wingnuts use against bias crime legislation–at least as far as it references sexual orientation. What they say is that every crime is a hate crime (which is idiotic) and so no crime is a hate crime. Is that what you really want? To play into the wingnuts’ playbook? But, at bottom, that is what you were suggesting.
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Wait for the evidence.
for the tip.
But how he will ever determine the sexual orientation of the participating officers is beyond me. Will P-Town cops have to wear a Scarlet H emblazoned on their foreheads if they outrage what is actually the majority sensibility in town?
Time to bring back the fruit machine.
I wish I could get paid taxpayer dollars to sit on my ass and blog all day, but I wouldn’t want to take that away from you “Peter”.
Personal attack, 5 yards.
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EBIII, is that you?
Penalty is declined!
were 15 yards and an automatic first down…
Mr. Hosty was merely trying to demonstrate what an ad hominum attack was for those who claimed to be puzzled by the term!
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He would have to be privvy not only to my identity, but my empoyment status, my schedule, my vacation time, etc., to be able to make such a charge ‘stick’. The attack was out of left field, a propos of nothing, and unnecessarily crude.
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Excellent teaching tool, John!
from Good Will.
WOW! ….and You’re going to personally attack Porcupine like this after the incredible shit storm with Boch??? John , seriously, viddie the mirror and get help …
Hosty’s first post on the matter, in which it was obvious that he was pre-judging the situation.
Would you like me to address the same thing with you? I took the thread down, can we please move on to the topics at hand, or are you simply going to fester on this forever? I’m coming down from the cross now….
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sheesh!
Hate crimes are not simply any crime committed by a person from one group against a person from another. There has to be bias indicator evidence to support a classification. The most common bias indicators are epithets, but no single bias indicator is indispensible for classification. Two highly suggestive indicators are disproportionate violence (like when 2 big people make a mess of one little person) and the absence of any other plausible motive for an assault and battery. However, the attack on Barry Scott simply cannot be classified, one way or the other, given the police refusal to investigate. I would object to those who ignore the possibility, as I would caution concerned GLBT folks not to jump to conclusions.
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Still a lot of GLBT people perceive the potential for a bias motive here, even though that’s just intuition, not evidence. A lot of other posters go out of their way to hurl insults at the question even being asked.
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What we know is troubling but inconclusive; it’s important that we develop relevant information. Stay tuned. And have a great day!
I’ve felt that although my title for the thread I took down was inflammatory, people have gone way out of their way to hurl insults at the very fact I DARED to suspect hate involved in the Barry Scott arrest. I was convinced that there was more to this story than we were seeing, and I am even more curious now that we have police standing in the way of evidence.