by John M. Curtis
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Copyright July 23, 2009
All Rights Reserved.

         When Harvard’s black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. was arrested July 21 at his Cambridge home for “disorderly conduct,” eyebrows raised about possible racial profiling.  Cambridge police officer Sgt. James Crowley insisted he followed appropriate police procedures arresting Prof. Gates at his own home.  Crowley went to Gates’ home to investigate a possible burglary phoned in by a “neighbor,” when they reportedly observed an individual forcibly entering the residence.  Apparently Gates, who just returned from a China trip, forgot his keys and resorted to creative ways to enter his property.  When Crowley arrived at the scene he apparently asked Gates for ID, Gates responded he was the home’s owner.  After exchanging words, Crowley confirmed Gate’s address on his Massachusetts drivers’ license matched the residence, proceeding to arrest Gates for disorderly conduct

            Whatever words were exchanged between Gates and Crowley, there was no excuse for arresting Gates.  However reluctantly Gates presented his ID, the case should have been dropped, including an apology from Crowley for engaging in what looked like racial harassment.  “Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody where there was already proof he was in his own home,” President Barack Obama said during a primetime nationally televised press conference, raising lingering questions about racism..  While an Illinois state senator, Obama sponsored a tough bill to ban racial profiling.  “Race remains a factor in the society,” said Barack, perhaps making too much of garden-variety police macho behavior.  Cambridge police will no doubt pay a stiff price for Crowley’s poor judgment.  Despite dropping all charges, Crowley refused to publicly apologize.

            Crowley, 42, an 11-year veteran of the Cambridge Police Department, rejected Obama’s notion that race played a role in the arrest.  “There is a long history in this country of African American and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, and that’s just a fact,” said Obama, not telling the whole story that many blacks and Hispanics live in blighted high crime areas where police execute more arrests than in suburbs or exurbs.  Of course there’s going to be a higher percentage of blacks and Latino’s stopped by police.  In many instances, it’s black and Latino officers making the stops.  That is not to say that racial profiling doesn’t exist or may have played a part in Gates’ arrest.  “I wasn’t working on Reggie Lewis the basketball star.  I wasn’t working on a black man,” said Crowley, denying that race had anything to do with Gates’ stop and arrest.

            Crowley revealed his real problem July 23 on Boston’s MyFox TV-25 outside his Boston-area home.  “I just have nothing to apologize for,” Crowley insisted.  “It will never happen,” referring to a public apology, exposing a pathologic ego problem.  If his department dropped the charges and officially called the incident “unfortunate and regrettable,” Crowley should not be publicly declaring he would never apologize.  Cambridge police spokeswoman Kelly Downes said both Crowley and Gates acted badly.  Getting the backing of the Police Union doesn’t absolve Crowley from overreacting, exposing the Cambridge Police Dept. to civil liability.  When Gates, the distinguished director of Harvard’s W.E.B. DuBois for African and African American Research, accused Crowley of racism he lost his cool.  Crowley knew Gates was the legal resident of his Cambridge home.

            Crowley may have a distinguished 11-year record on the Cambridge Police Department but it doesn’t excuse him from protecting  his community, not his ego.  Prof. Gates may have said some cutting things about what he perceived as racism.  What Gates didn’t realize is that Crowley was a tightly wrapped officer, too sensitive to provocation to responsibly discharge his peace officer duties.  Crowley showed a thin skin, not controlling his personal impulse to defend his machismo not the Cambridge Police Department.   Instead of justifying his actions, he should have profusely apologized to Gates following the incident.  Had he been in control of his ego at the time of the event, it would have never occurred.  No rational peace office would expose himself or his department to civil liability.  Having dropped the charges, Cambridge police has already admitted fault.

            Saying the Cambridge Police acted “stupidly,” Barack probably should have chosen his words more wisely.  It was Sgt. James Crowley, not the Department, that showed poor judgment letting his ego get the better of him.  Whether Crowley’s bad judgment was influenced by racism is anyone’s guess.  What’s obvious is that the 11-year veteran exposed his department and the city to civil liability.  Gates has a good case for a type of police abuse, or at least harassment, likely to cost Cambridge some serious cash.  After reviewing the case, Cambridge Police Superior Officers Association expressed “full and unqualified support for the actions taken by Sgt. Crowley,” contradicting the Department’s spokeswoman calling the actions “bad.”  Crowley's public remarks and emphatic refusal to apologize show his bad judgment, warranting, at the very least, a fitness for duty exam.

John M. Curtis write politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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