TNC has a good piece (EDIT: it is actually Mark Kleiman, sitting in for TNC) up about the arrest of Henry Louis Gates last year. It goes to my main thought on the issue, the fact that whether or not race played a role, it’s just plain fucked up to arrest someone in his own home and manipulate appearances to justify it:
Read Crowley’s report and stop on page two when he admits seeing Gates’s Harvard photo ID. I don’t care what Gates had said to him up until then, Crowley was obligated to leave. He had identified Gates….
[…..]No one who is familiar with law enforcement can miss the significance of Crowley’s report. As so often happens with documentary evidence, a person seeking to create a false impression spends lots of time nailing down the elements he thinks will establish his goal, but forgets about the larger picture. Under color of law, Crowley entered a residence to investigate a possible break-in, and after his probable cause had evaporated, he continued to act under color of law, but without any justifiable purpose. And he covered it up with false charges. Figuring that his best defense was a criminal charge, Crowley did what bad cops do. He decided he would look better if Gates looked worse. Perhaps one day cops will figure out that trumped-up charges worsen a case of investigating something that turns out not to have been a crime. It is horribly wrong when police officers falsely accuse an injured arrestee of A&B PO (“assault and battery on a police officer,” a felony) but at least there is some logic to the lie. If a disorderly conduct charge follows an investigation of a non-crime, chances are pretty good that the cop handled himself badly. Pursuit of charges should be strongly disfavored.
The lying matters.
I’m not an anti-cop person. Aside from one bogus traffic ticket, I’ve never had a problem with a cop, and the one police office I know pretty well is a good guy. But Sgt. Crowley should have been severely disciplined, if not fired, for what he did.
Napoleon
Doug,
That is Mark Klienman sitting in for TNC.
flukebucket
Awww c’mon man. He could have shot Gates and not been severely disciplined and certainly would not have been fired.
Two weeks paid vacation. Maximum.
Linda Featheringill
Ah, yes. Our police overlords. But a necessary evil.
Sorry, my class is showing.
But to the issue at hand: I was not present for the incident of course but it seems to me that there were enough fouls on both sides that it was a washout. Drop the wole thing and forget that it happened.
With lectures to both parties about what you should do the next time.
Scott
But Sgt. Crowley should have been severely disciplined, if not fired, for what he did.
If we were a sane society that didn’t worship cop authority and testosterone poisoning as Jesus’ Purest Gift to His Cowering People, he would’ve been.
I’m amazed there aren’t more police abuses and crimes out there, because the only messages you see in the media, from our politicians, and in the general culture is “Cops can do no wrong, so shut up and salute, consumer.”
Ain’t nothing worse than reading newspaper comments when it comes to cops — there, the overwhelmingly prevalent attitude is, “if you ever meet a cop, you should pray he only shoots you, ’cause you probably deserve worse.” It’s depressing how many of our fellow citizens yearn for life under the bootheel.
mantis
Perhaps one day cops will figure out that trumped-up charges worsen a case of investigating something that turns out not to have been a crime.
No they won’t, because they usually get away with it. Juries and judges tend to believe the cops over the accused, especially when the accused is black. The fact that Gates is a relatively famous Harvard professor is the only reason this cop didn’t get away with it (completely). If he was a nobody, he wouldn’t have stood a chance.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Is this true? Does this bit of nothing really loom so large in the minds of “moderate” and “independent” voters? I can often pick the moments and words in speeches or photo ops that Tweety and/or Rush are going to fixate on, and I have to say, it never occurred to me that anyone could do anything but agree with Obama. But of course, I am one of those out-of-touch elitists, one of the minority who thinks the Bible should not be taken as literal history.
DougJ
@Linda Featheringill:
Arresting people in their own homes for no reason is a necessary evil? And what does thinking that have to do with class?
racrecir
This is not being helpful. Like I keep saying: At some point, we have to put some faith and trust in our authority figures.
You think you guys can get on board one of these days?
Allison W.
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I don’t think this is true at all.
Punchy
You’re just a reverse backwards anti-racist, like the NAACP, ACORN, the NFL, and HBO. Suck it, FirstNameLetter.
DougJ
@racrecir:
For me to trust them, they have to stop arresting people in their own homes for no reason.
mantis
With lectures to both parties about what you should do the next time.
Here are my lectures:
Crowley, go fuck yourself, you stupid fascist.
Gates, carry a Flip camera (or something like it) on you at all times. If you see a cop, start recording. That’s what I do, and it’s the only way to protect yourself.
DougJ
@Allison W.:
Me neither. I missed that the first time I read through it.
snoey
Race or class probably didn’t have that much to do with it.
Gates was guilty of a very serious crime – Bad Attitude.
mnpundit
Not until the judiciary stops making excuses for them. I also know a number of cops and while they might be good people, something happens when they go on the job. They are almost ALL like this. With the judiciary constantly enabling these guys the cops can do anything they want.
You are damn right that I am never going to sass a cop. They can murder me and suffer no consequences for it because I’m not even white.
Punchy
Paradoxically, this’ll actually get you arrested and charged with a felony in some states.
cleek
@mantis:
filming police offices in the line of duty is a crime, too. or, at least the police want to treat it like one.
Warren Terra
Kleiman is posting edited versions of his best (old) posts while guesting for TNC; I’m pretty sure I linked to the original version of that post in the comments here last year, maybe repeatedly.
MattR
@Napoleon:
And the entire blockquote actually comes from analysis by Lowry Heussler which Kleiman reprints.
mantis
@cleek:
filming police offices in the line of duty is a crime, too. or, at least the police want to treat it like one.
I’d rather be charged with that than whatever bullshit the cop makes up. Also, and more importantly, a camera can have a deterrent effect on cops itching to give a beatdown, or worse.
Ella in New Mexico
Can someone refresh my memory: where did all the freaked out, 2nd Amendmenteers and anti-government types who want to secede from the union because of the oppression of the state in our lives come down on this event?
mantis
@Ella in New Mexico:
Can someone refresh my memory: where did all the freaked out, 2nd Amendmenteers and anti-government types who want to secede from the union because of the oppression of the state in our lives come down on this event?
The negro man deserved it, and worse. Plus the Kenyan usurper shouldn’t have said anything bad about that nice cop.
They aren’t exactly consistent, as you know.
mnpundit
@mantis: You would rather be charged with a felony?
Frank
@Linda Featheringill:
I will never forget the day after Obama had made his comments calling the Boston police dept’s behavior “stupifying. In response both the Cambridge PD and their union came out and blasted Obama.
There was no call for an internal investigation etc. I’m sorry, but I doubt I will ever forget what transpired. Arrested in his own damn home and not a single apology!
And then Gates received death threats etc. I’m glad you can forget the whole thing. Gates doesn’t have that luxury.
brent
The fact that there has ever even been any dispute here that Officer Crowley abused his authority actually makes me sick to my stomach. He arrested a guy because he didn’t like his attitude. In what non-authoritarian worldview is that in any way defensible. The notion that Gates acted badly as well, as if he and a fucking armed state agent share the same level of responsibility, is astonishingly ridiculous but what I have learned from this incident is that an alarming percentage of seemingly reasonable people actually believe this.
The Moar You Know
@mnpundit: Hate to tell you this, but they can do it if you’re white as well. Happens here in Southern California all the time, doesn’t matter what race you are.
Best advice I ever got from a parent was what my mother told me when I got my license – that if I was ever pulled over, I was to always keep my hands on the wheel, call the cop “sir” and do anything he asked, including sucking his dick if he requested it. She finished up by saying “we can always get you out of jail. We can’t get you out of a morgue.”
You see, her dad was a cop. She knew what could happen.
Michael
You misspelled “in prison.”
mantis
@mnpundit:
You would rather be charged with a felony?
Absolutely, when it’s a bullshit charge I can beat. That’s far preferable to being charged with something the cop made up and fighting it with only my word against his. It’s also preferable to getting beaten or killed by a cop when no one is watching.
Videotaping cops in the line of duty is not a crime. They are public officers engaging in public acts. Wiretapping laws (at least in my state, but I believe in all states where there are statutes) only apply to private conversations.
El Tiburon
I don’t think cops in general are corrupt, but the system in which they operate is corrupt.
Cops don’t care so much about guilt vs. innocence, but about having the evidence to convict. If this means the manufacturing of evidence, so be it.
When you have an Us vs. Them mentality, then all normal rules of civilized society do not apply. You have the cop in Chicago facing prison for years of torture. You have hundreds of tazering episodes for no just cause.
This event captured on tape shows the cavalier attitude cops have regarding evidence, facts, guilt and innocence. I have been on this side of the law twice now.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/29/crooked-cops-caught-plott_n_246987.html
stuckinred
Cop or Fight Attendant, dealing with the public sucks.
Omnes Omnibus
@mnpundit:
That is really the heart of the matter, isn’t it? I have (in the distant past) done and said things in the presence of cops that would get a non-white person arrested nine times out of ten. Since I am white and look, dress, and sound upper middle class, the behavior was either ignored or the cop came up to me a politely, using sir and please, asked me to stop. I have, on the other hand, defended clients and sued police departments because cops beat and maced people for jaywalking. This country is f-ed up about race.
MattR
@mantis:
Actually, in several states, this is explicitly a crime.
stuckinred
@mantis:
RareSanity
@Linda Featheringill:
This is a ridiculous statement. I can only hope that it was an attempt at sarcasm.
Both sides were not wrong. Gates maybe could have handled the situation better, but, the fact of the matter is that he was NOT wrong. A police officer came to his house to investigate a possible break in, once the officer ascertained that he was talking to the owner of the house, he should have left the premises. Period.
It is not a crime to be an asshole to a police officer, or anyone else for that matter. If he did not physically threaten, or, make any physical contact with the officer, the officer had no reason to say anything else to Gates, nothing good could come from it.
Law enforcement officials are held to a higher standard than ordinary citizens because they are entrusted with authority. When they violate that trust, they need to be disciplined, strongly.
They can, even for short amounts of time, deprive a person of their freedom. When their ability to do so is abused because their feelings or ego was hurt, then there needs to be stiff punishment for it.
mantis
@El Tiburon:
You have the cop in Chicago facing prison for years of torture.
Yeah, I didn’t mention that I live in Chicago. The cops fucking torture people here!
Yes, I carry a Flip camera and am ready to break it out at any time. They can charge me for that all they want.
flukebucket
@mantis:
You need to read this article.
The Boys in Blue are taking this shit very seriously.
brent
@mantis:
I think you are missing the point mantis. In some states, the act of videotaping a cop is, in fact, a crime. So it is specifically not a bullshit charge you can beat. It is the specific result of cities and states changing the law to protect police corruption. If there is some other explanation for why such a law would exist, it would be great to hear it.
stuckinred
@Omnes Omnibus: I have always said that if I had been black when I was in the Army I’d still be in Leavenworth. As it was I just kept getting busted to private!
Rosalita
@DougJ:
my read was that Linda was talking about cops in general…but she can correct me if I’m wrong
kay
@Linda Featheringill:
Completely disagree.
The police officer is the professional, acting in his official capacity, not the citizen.
The citizen has no duty to the police officer. Gates didn’t have to be polite, he didn’t have to be pleased, he didn’t have to be grateful, and he certainly doesn’t have to know the nuances of a when it is lawful for a police officer to continue to remain in his home.
ALL of that is part of Crowley’s job.
Crowley is granted enormous power over individual people. With that comes a shit-load of responsibility. NONE of it falls to Gates.
RareSanity
@RareSanity:
I response to myself: I would add that, although it is not a crime, I wouldn’t recommend it.
mantis
Actually, in several states, this is explicitly a crime.
No, it isn’t. Prosecutors have been trying to use wiretapping laws, which require consent of all parties for private conversations. A police officer engaged in questioning or arresting a suspect is not engaged in a private conversation. It is a public act. Any such charge cannot be beat.
Ahem
Maryland Attorney General Upholds Right to Video Traffic Stops
Maryland attorney general rules that state police were wrong to charge motorist with felony for recording his traffic stop.
Making a recording of a police traffic stop is not a crime in the opinion of Maryland’s attorney general. In a ruling issued last month from the state’s top law enforcement office, Chief Counsel Robert N. McDonald found the legal grounds weak for felony wiretapping charges of the type brought against a motorcyclist who posted a video of himself being arrested on YouTube. Maryland State Police had taken advantage of ambiguity in the law to prosecute Anthony Graber, 25 for the April 13 recording.
“No appellate decision in Maryland specifically addresses the application of that law to recording of police activity,” McDonald wrote in his opinion.
Graber had been stopped for speeding on Interstate 95. While driving an unmarked car in plain clothes, Maryland State Trooper Joseph David Uhler cut off Graber as he brought his motorcycle to a stop. Uhler then jumped out of his car, gun drawn, commanding, “Get off the motorcycle” before identifying himself. Graber had a camera on his helmet that recorded the entire incident, which he later posted on YouTube (view video). The sight of Uhler wielding his weapon in public over a traffic infraction drew a storm of criticism. Uhler responded by ordering his colleagues to raid Graber’s residence and confiscate all of his computer equipment as evidence of wiretapping. By filing charges that could send Graber to prison for sixteen years, the state police wanted to send a clear message to anyone who might consider documenting police misconduct in the future.
Under the interpretation of the state police and prosecutors, a police officer has an expectation of privacy while working on public streets. Ordinary citizens on those same streets, however, have no such expectation and are subjected to constant monitoring by the state’s red light cameras, speed cameras and recently expanded automated license plate recognition systems. The attorney general’s office examined the question of whether the conversation in a traffic stop constituted an “oral conversation” that is “intercepted” under the wiretap act if a citizen records the arrest. After considering a related attorney general ruling from 2000, McDonald ruled that there is no difference between a police officer and a citizen as far as the statute is concerned.
“The reasoning of that excerpt, which suggested that a police officer would not face prosecution or liability under the act for recording an arrest or traffic stop in a public place, would apply equally well to a private person involved in the same incident,” McDonald wrote.
Several other states, with the exception of Massachusetts, have developed case law that clearly allows the recording of police traffic stops. The attorney general’s ruling did not directly consider the details of the Graber case, but it concluded that the most likely outcome should it come to trial would be acquittal.
“A court could hold that a police stop of an individual necessarily is not a ‘private conversation’ and therefore does not involve an oral communication covered by the state wiretap act,” McDonald ruled. “This conclusion would be consistent with the suggestion made in the 2000 opinion and with the holdings of the courts in most other states construing state eavesdropping statutes. Given the language of the Maryland statutes, this seems the most likely outcome in the case of a detention or arrest.”
Don’t believe cops, prosecutors or media who tell you videotaping cops in the line of duty is a crime. It’s not.
ruemara
This would assume that 1. cops don’t feel they’re better than the people they police; 2. there isn’t a streak of “they musta deserved it” running through humanity; 3. people ever think it can happen to them.
Before an officer or family member of one, or friend of one bops me over the head for #1, may I point out I am a “friend of” and hang with a chief. It gets tribal sometimes and I’m often one of the very few non-cop, non-white, non-male people they count as friends who can give them perspective. And I think I have some very decent, smart good cops.
brent
@mantis:
Good point and good article mantis. Makes me feel a bit better about things anyway.
mantis
@brent:
I think you are missing the point mantis.
No, you are.
In some states, the act of videotaping a cop is, in fact, a crime.
No it isn’t. Show me the statute.
So it is specifically not a bullshit charge you can beat.
If it’s a wiretapping law it is. I know of no “you can’t videotape cops” statutes in any state, and this is an issue I pay close attention to.
It is the specific result of cities and states changing the law to protect police corruption.
No, it’s cities and states trying to use wiretapping laws to protect police corruption. Those laws should not apply, and can be beat in court when used.
If there is some other explanation for why such a law would exist, it would be great to hear it.
What laws? What states? You guys keep telling me this is outlawed, but don’t want to give specifics. Pony up.
MattR
@mantis: I stand corrected. Perhaps I was thinking of states/municipalities where such a law was under consideration.
Anonymous
Mantis, Illinois is probably the state with the most restrictive laws on filming. As Radley Balko wrote recently:
Last week, an Illinois judge rejected Chicago artist Christopher Drew’s motion to dismiss the Class I felony charge against him. Drew is charged with violating the state’s eavesdropping statute when he recorded his encounter with a police officer last December on the streets of Chicago. A Class I felony in Illinois is punishable by 4 to 15 years in prison. It’s in the same class of crimes as sexual assault. Drew will be back in court in June to request a jury trial.
http://reason.com/blog/2010/05/20/illinois-where-videotaping-on
jacy
@mantis:
I think commenters are referring to this post at Gizmodo which implies that it’s against the law in three states: Illinois, Massachusetts, and Maryland.
Seeing no reference in the article to actual statutes, it may just be a meme that’s been picked up and not verified.
Punchy
Confused. It says in that Balko article that under no circumstances can filming take place without both parties consent in Illinois. So clearly no filming of police. But doesnt that also preclude the police from filming everyone else? Are there no dashcams on ISP patrol cars? If there are, then how does this jive with the law?
Tax Analyst
@RareSanity:
Shit, boy, and Howdy – ain’t that the truth.
I ALWAYS put on my best suck-up, “Yes, Sir/No, Sir” face and attitude when a police officer approaches me for any reason. There is nothing wrong with being cooperative if they aren’t in the process of already fucking with you. If they ARE already fucking with you, well, you might consider being more submissive and agreeable “an investment in your future”.
I can’t tell you how many acquaintances I knew back in the late 60’s and 70’s who just had to fat-mouth a cop and try and get the last word in. After that “last word” it wasn’t unusual for them to not be around for 30, 60, 90 or 180 or so days, returning to the scene grumbling about how they got screwed over by “that pig”, and ready to repeat their stupidity x 4 or 5 at the first opportunity.
elmo
I swear, the cops have convinced people that they’re just as much to be feared as any other street gang with guns. Half the “advice” people get to deal with cops would sound exactly the same if you were trying to teach people how to deal with violent gangsters.
“Keep your head down and your mouth shut.” “Don’t make any sudden moves.” “Don’t antagonize them or you’ll get hurt.”
Tell me again how the cops are any different from the Crips. Oh, I know — the Crips won’t actually bother me if I don’t go into their territory. The cops are paid to bother me wherever I go.
Brachiator
@Allison W.:
RE: It’s been a year since the “beer summit,” and Barack Obama’s popularity has yet to recover from having called the arrest of Henry Louis Gates “stupid.”
This has been added to the tea bagger mythology of proof of Obama’s hatred for white people over black people. And conservative pundits still regularly drag it up to bash Obama.
It may not impact those who look on Obama favorably, but it is never going away.
Dan
Interesting discussions here on BJ. I enjoyed the post on TNC but found it strange the guy was passed of as an expert on MA law and then went on to define Assault and Battery on a Police Officer as a felony (it isn’t it is a misdemeanor)
I can’t believe that people even get surprised that Crowley wasn’t investigated. Police officers make bad arrests like this EVERYDAY. If every police officer who made an arrest for disorderly that was not supported by probable cause was fired there wouldn’t be many police officers left.
I’m not saying its right, I actually think its terrible how poorly trained officers are on when it is ok to arrest someone for disorderly and when it isn’t. Plus a lot of Departments have a frat house kind of attitude that promotes the “if they are being an asshole just arrest them for disorderly” attitude (by the way Cambridge is a lot more professional than many departments and I don’t include them in this catagorey)
On the other hand I do sympathize with the police to some extent. They have *really* hard jobs. Well at least patrol officers and detectives do anyways. Dealing with the public can get real ugly real quick and a lot of the officers I know do a good job of it 99% of the time. But even good cops end up making bad arrests like the Gates arrest the other 1% (and by bad arrest I mean an arrest without probable cause)
Sympathies aside its obvious the arrest was total bullshit. I was kind of horrified by the media coverage of the incident. It went almost undiscussed by the national media that the local District Attorney, Gerry Leone ordered his office to dismiss the charge immediately.
If Crowley was in the right which was claimed endlessly by the traditional band of white folks who dominate the conservative media why would the DA dismiss the case on the first day it came into court?
Completely lacking from any discussion in the national media was which party was right under the law. The answer was so obviously Gates and yet time and time again the media seemed to make Crowley out to be the victim after Obama spoke offhandedly about the issue.
One the issue of recording in police just to clarify, in MA my understanding is that there is absolutely no restriction on videotaping whatsoever. The only restrictions apply to audio taping under the wiretapping statute. The restriction placed on people is that they cannot secretly record anyone. You must merely make it known you are recording them either by stating it, or by having the recording device in an obvious place. If you stick a camera in a cops face you can’t be charged with wiretapping because he is on fair notice that he is being taped. Whether not he gives his consent is not an issue. In a public space you can record whatever you like as long as you do it openly.
Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle
There is only one union stronger than the FOP(or whatever the police union is called) and that is the Major League Baseball Players Association.
Cacti
Everyone who has an encounter with the police would be well-served to view their motives with suspicion. To potentially prevent said encounter from becoming something worse…
If you are stopped by a police officer, Do identify yourself upon request.
Once you’ve established your identity, or if there is any doubt of the nature of the encounter, ask “Are you detaining me, or am I free to leave?”
If you are free to leave, inform the officer you are doing so.
If John Q. Law asks to take a look in your car: Your response should be “I don’t consent to any searches.” If they threaten to “bring the dogs” they’re trying to intimidate you into consent. Exercising your rights is not probable cause for a search.
If s/he would like to take a look inside your home ALWAYS tell them “I can’t let you in without a warrant” and close the door.
If s/he asks some variation of “Do you know why I’m here/why I’ve stopped you” the answer should always be “No.”
Dan
@elmo:
A little unfair no?
Certainly there is a problem in this country with police brutality, and as a society it would do us some good to drop the lavish hero worship we bathe police officers with, but at the end of the day when the neighbor next door is beating the shit out of his wife I’m still calling the police aren’t you?
A Guest
@mantis: Finding by state AG is not binding upon local prosecutors.
elmo
@Dan:
Honestly? I don’t know. I’ve never been in that exact situation, and I don’t have any neighbors close enough to hear.
I do know that as a general rule, I believe that inviting the police into a situation almost never improves it. I know that I have personally chosen, in the past, to confront potential attackers with a gun instead of calling the police. It was a conscious choice on my part, not to involve the police in my life if I could avoid it. But that was a choice I made for myself and my partner, not a third party.
Understand: the police are not paid to protect you, or to protect your hypothetical neighbor’s wife. They are paid to keep the peace. It’s not by any stretch the same thing. If they think they can only keep the peace by tasering and arresting both the neighbor and his abused wife, that’s what they’ll do. Justice doesn’t enter into it.
Tom Q
There are obviously good cops and bad cops (and not in the Law & Order sense). The problem is that the entire system — including the good cops — operates on the premise that the only way to protect the authority of the department is to protect all cops as if they are blameless.
And when I say “the whole system…”: A guy I went to high school with — an extremely honorable guy — was lead prosecutor on a high profile cop-screwup/dead-black-guy incident of recent vintage. He had no doubt he’d proven at least one of the cops was blatantly at fault. But it was a judge-only trial, and the judge — in my friend’s words — “practiced nullification” and set the guy free.
Dan
@elmo:
Fair enough, but I’m curious what your experience is with the police.
All negative? Never a positive encounter?
I’ve seen the police make my fair share of situations worse, even fuck up to the point of causing deaths that should not have occurred. I’ve also seen situations where they actually do incredibly brave shit that saves peoples lives.
I’m also chickenshit so I’d never confront potential attackers. My ass would be dialing 911 in a heartbeat.