I read the police report of Prof. Gates arrest via Boston.Com yesterday.
My first reaction was kudos to the Globe for finally getting it right by providing the police report.
Then I read the report. Line by line.
A number of things struck me.
First, the arresting officer, and report writer, by the name Crowley was assigned to the “administrative bureau” at Cambridge P.D.
He was on duty (believe in plain clothes) riding in a police car ( I believe unmarked) on his way to somewhere when he heard the call sending real policemen in real police cars to check out the kind of thing that gets reported in middle and upper class neighborhoods. – A man outside a house acting suspiciously or something like that.
And ninety-nine out of a hundred times in suburbia and parts of Cambridge (not central square, but even there too), it turns out to be a false alarm. The person, for whatever reason was there legitimately and a panicky but concerned neighbor called the cops.
As I read the report I thought this was one of those situations which any half decent cop would straighten out in minutes.
I also read in the report that Officer Crowley asked for ID and Gates gave him a photo Harvard ID. Because of this ID, Crowley wrote in his report, he called Harvard University Police to the scene. Huh?
Now we have Crowley, assigned to the administrative office, controlling the scene as other police officers from Cambridge and Harvard arrived, Thereby creating a crowd, a necessary element for disorderly conduct charge.
As I read this report, which Officer Crowley wrote later at the police station, I saw what a disgrace this arrest was and how one incompetent police officer has given our part of the world a black mark.
This police report is a defense attorney’s dream. Office Crowley should expect to be on the stand for days. I mean the first sentence, he tells us he was an administrator (there is always a reason, and not a good one, for desk duty) who just happened to be passing by. That statement alone is worth three hours of questioning by an average lawyer with a low profile case. Now we add the celebrity and high priced attorney to the mix.
And let’s not forget the civil case and the civil deposition.
There is so much to know about officer Crowley which directly bears upon his ability to perform as a police officer.
And unlike the Dee Brown incident, in spite of many similarities, we deserve it here.
Of course the police were called because Prof. Gates was black. (just like Dee) And of course he should be pissed about that. And there is no law that says he cannot express that to a police officer as long as he does not interfere with police officer’s duties. Crowley created this unnecessary scrape. Thank god Crowley was not the responding to the Dee Brown incident. How many shots would have been fired?
But anyway what I was really thinking after I read the report was the post I would write today outlining Officers Crowley’s report line by line and point out why his own version of events written in the police report will not and should not hold up.
Then listening to some radio this morning I thought how unfair people were to Gates as the quoted from the newspaper blurbs of the report written by the police officer who had to justify the arrest.
I was also going to talk how the police code mandate that other officers had to stand around and watch as Crowley lit this fire. Then, under the code, they have to let him go through with it and make like they didn’t see it.
Like The Fence
Now, that brings me to the point of this post. I went looking for the report today to point all this out for you. (I am pretty sure he said in the report he was in plain clothes and unmarked car) but I would need to report to verify.
And I wanted to link to it.
But it is not there!
The Tri-Lateral Commission strikes again?
Where is the report? Why did Globe take it down?
“Journalists”, like Michelle McPhee, who are pawns of the police are dangerous to everyone, icluding you and me. There is no reason for this report to be covered-up from public scrutiny other than it shows how ridiculous the Cambridge Police are even in a ‘cover-your-ass’ report.
What is outrageous is mug shot is released and shown all over yet no police report which is full of exculpatory evidence – if one knows how to read a police report.
(BTW an aside to Prof. Gates. Seriously Sir, you took a good mug shot. Always a concern and you came out with flyying colors. It was good to see you didn’t look into the camera like they told you.)
I saw the report you posted after I wrote the post.
Thanks
I’ve asked the Globe for comment on why they took the report down. I’ll update if I hear anything.
good job
I bet you ask any black CPD officer what they would have done, and it would be no different.
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p>Good police work by Sgt. Crowley. Too bad he’s white.
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p>Thanks again, David, for posting the CPD report.
Nonsense. It was terrible police work. As far as we know, he initially responded appropriately to the 911 call. But it quickly became obvious that this was not a break-in, at the very latest when Gates (at the officer’s request) produced his Harvard ID, having hobbled into his kitchen with his cane, for God’s sake. As of that moment, the officer should’ve gotten the hell out of there.
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p>And this is crazy.
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p>Uh, what? Upon learning that Gates was affiliated with Harvard and was in his own damn house, he should’ve gotten out of there, not called for more backup.
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p>And arresting, cuffing, and transporting him? PUH-LEEZE.
In Amherst, it’s about 20 times more likely that the 58 year-old black man trying to break into a house is a professor at one our the Five Colleges in the area.
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p>Furthermore, the Amherst Police Department is well-trained in handling situations dealing with race, gender, etc. This is the town that puts up with an Extravaganja ever year on the town common.
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p>Keep your city problems to yourself, thanks.
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p>HL Gates trivia: Prof. Joseph Skerrett of the UMass English Department was a grad school classmate of Henry “Skip” Gates at Yale.
At least according to Jason Vassell’s lawyers, there are racism problems on that force, see e.g.:
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p>http://www.justiceforjason.org…
the UMass police sort of botched that one, according to one of my connections in UMass housing. On the other hand, Jason was the one with the knife. I don’t blame him for going after the guys, but with a knife?
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p>Incidentally, the UMass police are pretty much underpaid. They aren’t paid like state police and make less than most local police. Riots have slowed down finally, after the UMass and Amherst police were able to crack down. The last time Southwest erupted, the UMass Chief of Police was almost hit with a one gallon container thrown from a high rise. Had it hit her head, she would have been killed.
It sounds a lot more like a “sort of botched” job. You should read the document that is linked in DaveMB’s post. Yes, it is written by Vassell’s lawyers, but it sounds like a total miscarriage of justice, mostly due to the races of those involved. And whether UMASS police are underpaid or overpaid should not excuse anyone being treated badly under our justice system.
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p>Harvard ID, so what? Maybe it’s a Harvard employee breaking and entering. How’s Crowley to know?
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p>How did Crowley know Gates belonged there?
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p>I believe, given the breaking and entering radio call, it’s incumbent upon Gates to (1) identify who he is, and (2) that it’s his house or he has occupancy rights. Like a driver’s license or utility bill.
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p>Instead, Crowley gets a face full of invectives, and CPD a likely BS lawsuit.
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p>”Quickly became obvious” is only because you, David, know AFTER THE FACT the who, what, and where. Crowley had none of that information. For all he knew he could be approaching an armed burglary in progress. Gates was combative from the get-go.
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p>”Hobbled in his kitchen with a cane” … ok, in light of that fact Crowley kept his weapon holstered.
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p>Good police work, Sgt. Crowley.
That is not in the police report, but Gates claimed he did show his MA driver’s license.
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p>HOWEVER, the police report does say in multiple places that Crowley believed Gates was a resident. We don’t have to imagine what information Crowley had because he tells us exactly what he believed at the time.
Wow. So you have to be disabled in order for the cops not to pull a gun on you in your own home. Count me out for bostonshepherd’s police state America.
is that you think it’s safer to assume a black man created a fake ID when robbing a house, than he’s actually telling the truth. Your prejudice is showing.
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p>Crowley should be fired, or Cambridge should be sued. Something’s gotta give.
My god, you’re like something out of 1984. Your blind allegiance to shock-and-awe force combined with your deference to uniformed authority is scary, to say the least.
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p>On the upside, however, you have never given any indication that your are in any form of law enforcement or the military, so as fellow citizens we will not have to endure your peculiarly Orwellian brand of policing.
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p>Seriously, your vehement defense of what is clearly an inappropriate police response is worrisome. Howz about a li’l anger management for you? You’re coming off as a tad nutty.
It would have been very easy for Sgt. Crowley to avoid a lawsuit. Once he was convinced that this middle aged professor with a cane was in his own home, APOLOGIZE for the inconvenience and leave. Instead the intrepid Crowley tried to lure the homeowner onto the front porch where the homeowner’s righteous indignation loudly stated could be construed to be “disorderly conduct” under a very vague statute. He then arrests the homeowner for an offense that carries with it (since July, 1, 2009) only a modest fine as the ultimate punishment. No possibility of incarceration and no possibility of being placed on probation.
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p>Why arrest someone for an offense and deprive them of their liberty when the punishment stated in the statute calls for no deprivation of liberty? The answer is, wait for it, because the officer could. Police have incredible power over the population. Your submissive acquiesence to their exercise of power is not something of which you should be proud. Hooray for Professor Gates for stating the truth. The officer was wrong and so are you.
And we all should simply say, “Job well done on our behalf?” (You do realize the police work for us, right?)
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p>I talked to a friend yesterday who was locked out of his house and had to break in. (He is white and was probably a little older than Prof. Gates is at the time, but he does not need a cane.) His alarm went off and the police came. He met them at the door and the first thing the officer asked is, “Do you live here?” (Officer Crowley, are you listening.) The second thing he asked is, “Can I see some id?” My friend said the officer looked behind his front door to make sure there was not someone holding him hostage, but the officer did not walk through the house and did not call for backup. Once the officer saw the id, and determined no one was hiding behind the front door, he left. And that was the end of the incident.
“What the f#@% do you need that for? I told you, I live here. What’s your problem- you don’t like Italians (Jews, Irish, etc)? Do you know who I am, you ignorant pig? I could have your job like that [snaps fingers]!!” I wonder if the incident would have unfolded differently.
I wonder how quickly Gates started calling the cop racist, or otherwise implying that he was a racist. It’s a pretty insulting label, after all.
From one account it sounded like he was already pretty heated as he went to get his wallet.
By the way, did we ever figure out why Mrs. Whalen, who supposedly works for Harvard Magazine, was unable to recognize Gates even at noontime on a sunny day? If it wasn’t for her “vigilance”, none of this stuff would have happened. Good work, Nancy Drew.
… of a BREAK IN and returns with a collar of OTHER (In this case ‘disorderly conduct’ or whatever the charge was) is a cop in need of some training.
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p>Ask any black CPD officer what they would have done and they’d probably say, “I wouldn’t have pissed off the guy who knows Oprah really well… .” I don’t think that response would be limited to black officers either… probably limited to the competent ones.
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p>And, apparently, Prof Gates has retained the services of Charles Ogletree… so you can pretty much start printing the signs that say “Welcome to SkipGates Massachusetts, established 2009, formerly known as Cambridge”
and that the disturbance was in the presence of a “uniformed police officer”, in his report. He responded, he says, in an unmarked car.
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p>Whether this is more or less credible than the other statements in the report is up to individual interpretation.
Though I doubt he said “Professor Gates” or “Dr. Gates” either…
You made some good points, I didn’t know he was assigned desk duty and it does seem that Crowley should have left as soon as be determined that Gates was not breaking into the house.
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p>It seems that Crowley escalated the situation AFTER he knew there was not a crime committed.
At this link – but Crowley’s original, lengthy statement seems to be missing. It’s still there in the version I posted.
Or is that fishier than if they had just took it down completely?
Crowley may have started by to make sure Gates was who he said he was, but the entire episode could have been averted if he had been polite, explained what he was doing, and why.
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p>I know Cambridge is part of the city and has city problems, but there must be a lot of middle class black people in the Harvard area. If I were his boss, I’d be pissed that he caused a publicity problem where one was not necessary. Regardless of race, it was bad police work.
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p>I know a lot of mostly rural and suburban cops. They tell me that city cops, and state troopers, are much more likely to have an us versus them attitude. They often treat the people they police badly. If you want to get an idea of their attitude, sign up for MassCops and read some of the forums. (I can’t say it’s representative of city cops, but it’s representative of an attitude).
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p>My suburban cop friends have experience with Springfield cops. One cop I know told me that their force won’t turn a prisoner to Springfield cops. Car chases sometimes start in the City of Homes and end up in neighboring towns. The suburban cops know the prisoner will get a tune up and don’t want to be involved.
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p>Another suburban cop I know had the experience of working with a a Springfield cop who had been laid off. Responding to a domestic disturbance call, they entered a residence. The family dog was barking at them. The Springfield cop told the owners that if they didn’t shut the fucking thing up he’d shoot it. The couple was not elderly, but neither were they young. Race was not a factor in his behavior. They were white.
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p>City cops can and do get away with that stuff in a city filled with poor folks (and criminals) that they can’t get away with in the suburbs. There a lot of reasons, but one of the biggest is social capital. In a suburb, people know people, often they know the police and the chief and the mayor or select board. Bad behavior on the part of police has a much better chance of costing them. It’s when city cops abused someone with social capital that they get called on it.
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p>And as far as race goes, my guess is that Gates’s experience with cops in minimal. He’s much more familiar with racial profiling than police and law enforcement. He’s put in an unfamiliar situation, provoked by a cop with somewhat less than stellar social skills. Is is any wonder he charged him with racial profiling?
But it is a city in its own right.