Is Sgt. James Crowley A Profiler Or Is He Being Profiled As A Stereotypical White Police Officer?

Sometimes, it is best to remember the advice of Abraham Lincoln who once said: "it is better to be silent and to be thought dumb, then to speak and remove all doubt." This may be good advice for everyone involved in the Henry Louis Gates Jr. matter. Admittedly without knowing all the facts, President Obama said that police in Cambridge, Massachusetts, "acted stupidly" in arresting a prominent black Harvard professor last week at the man's home. For those who have been in a coma for the last week, Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was questioned and arrested for disorderly conduct at his home in Cambridge when the arresting officer thought he was not cooperating. President Obama admitted, "I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played." (Mr. President, great leaders lead by example and not by words. Show the nation that opinions should be based on facts not assumptions.)

What Gates did was not a crime. Consequently, Prosecutors have dropped the disorderly conduct charges against Henry Louis Gates Jr. Yet the complete facts of the incident are still developing. Was the arresting officer convinced that Gates had given him enough proof that he was not a burglar in the home? While too often in the past African-Americans and Latinos have been stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, it would be a stereotype to assume that happened in this case. Contrary to our President's qu0te that this shows "how race remains a factor in this society," the public may simply be jumping to erroneous conclusions concerning what the officer was thinking. Investigate first. Then form opinions based on fact. President's address of the incident. Even the Cambridge mayor might want to do some investigation before jumping to conclusions. Mayor's plans to handle the situation .

Even though charges have been dropped, Gates plans to keep the issue alive. Gates said he'd be prepared to forgive the arresting officer "if he told the truth" about what the director of Harvard's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research said were "fabrications" in the police report. Arrest of a black scholar But just what part of the police report is untrue? Police report of incident

The officer, Sgt. James Crowley, told WCVB that he offers no apology for his thought process in detaining Gates. While Gates said the mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Mayor E. Denise Simmons, did apologize, Crowley has not. So why is Crowley so insistent in offering no apology? Neighbors apparently called in a potential burglary. When Crowley arrived he apparently saw Gates. Crowley wrote in his report that Gates refused to step outside to speak with him. According to Crowley, when he told Gates that he was investigating a possible break-in, Gates opened the front door and exclaimed, "Why, because I'm a black man in America?" Profiling? According to Crowley's report, he asked Gates for identification and he initially refused. Gates asked for the officers identification which Crowley claims he was willing to provide. Gates eventually produced a Harvard identification card, prompting Crowley to radio for Harvard University Police. Crowley apparently claims to be puzzled by Gate's inconsistent behavior.

"While I was led to believe that Gates was lawfully in the residence, I was quite surprised and confused with the behavior he exhibited toward me," Crowley reported. At some point, Gates was arrested for "loud and tumultuous behavior in a public space. " Gates was released after spending four hours at the police station and the media frenzy began. Gates and his lawyers are apparently considering further actions.

While not all the fact are out, one thing is clear. It is wrong to profile suspects in such cases. But it is equally wrong to jump to the conclusion that the reason the officer detained Gates was just because he was a black man. Stereotypes work both ways. In both cases, it is wrong to judge an individual based on past stereotypes instead of upon the facts.

Update 7-24-09: "I believe that Sgt. [James] Crowley acted in a way that is consistent with his training at the department, and consistent with national standards of law enforcement protocol," Commissioner Robert Haas said.
"I do not believe his actions in any way were racially motivated," Haas added.

Our President made a mistake in assuming this police officer used racial profiling. Immediately after the incident, the police union and fellow officers, black and white, rallied around Crowley. Crowley is a decorated officer who in 1993 attempted lifesaving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to Reggie Lewis, a black Boston Celtics player who had collapsed. Crowley, 42, had even been selected to be a police academy instructor on how to avoid racial profiling. A multiracial group of officers (some of who read Legal Pub) and union officials stood with Crowley on Friday to show support and to ask our President and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to apologize for their comments. (Patrick had called Gates' arrest "every black man's nightmare.")

Update 7-25-09: President Obama may indeed be a better facilitator and a better leader than first thought. At the suggestion of Crowley, Crowley, Our President and Gates will meet at the White House and have a few beers to discuss the incident. Just think if more conflicts could be resolved in such a fashion.