I have always had tremendous respect for police officers. When someone feels compelled to say, after THEY or a friend or family member has been arrested for breaking the law, that a police officer is being arrogant or power hungry or abusive, that they usually are exaggerating the situation because the same personality flaws that motivate someone to not respect the rights of others also makes them less likely to reflect on the childish actions they’ve chosen to take and how it takes it toll on others. They don’t care. They never accept responsibility nor blame for what has happened… it is always someone else’s fault. Normal law-abiding people aren’t like this. And few people will ever thank an officer for arresting them, for stopping them from their criminal activity. Quite the opposite.

Regarding race, I totally agree with you. In LA, my uncle worked side by side with all races, both on the force and in the community. Someone who is a racist doesn’t survive for long, just as you said.

Thank you for your input, dear friend.

Don’t know what “pro-PC” is meant in your final sentence. This has nothing to do with political correctness. I do not believe that Crowley made “a mistake.” Nor do many other law enforcement personnel who have been interviewed. However, there will always be opposing views. Being “pro-PC” is in the eye of the beholder, as would “anti-PC.”

I believe the professor acted like a jerk, and the police acted according to their best judgment at the time, per Dept. protocol. Easy to armchair referee after the fact, especially if you’re not there, and I’ve not read anything from police officers to the contrary about Crowley’s decision. This situation was provoked and escalated by the professor, as witnessed by two other officers, and should never have been put in front of television cameras with judge-and-jury proclamation by the president of the United States. It became a media circus because of Obama. So, in all honesty, the situation has exponentially increased because of his butting in where, based on his position as our nation’s leader, he had no business taking sides or getting involved. Stupidity to the max.

Sure, Crowley could have done it differently. But he had to make a quick decision. If the professor was being adversarial and over-the-top threatening to the officers, it isn’t unreasonable to come to the conclusion that he could be a potential danger to himself or others. That seems pretty much cut and dry to me. Had nothing to do with his color, but with his crappy attitude and threats.

And it’s funny to see how “conservatives” can be so pro-PC, when it’s suddenly expedient.

-Val

The irony here, is that the only thing that really can be concluded is that this arrest was seriously misguided (i.e., STUPID). If you do the legal analysis of taking everything in the arrest affadavit as accurate, while discounting everything Gates say, you still wind up with an arrest that has no public safety rationale. No threat to the cops is there – only the pathetic “I’ll step outside with your Mother” which no-one would mistake for an actual remark about anyone’s mother (if they did, do you want them walking around your town with a gun?).

We don’t have information that lets us conclude that this was racist or not – we don’t
need it. The cop in this case can be the most racially sensitive guy on the planet.
He probably loves puppies. I’m sure he’s overworked and underpaid. I’ll bet Gates was a real AH. We’re still stuck with the arrest of a middle-aged citizen, already known and proved to be the correct occupant of the residence, for no reason that served the safety of the community or the protection of the rights of the members of the community.

Bad news for the civil rights of ALL races.