more police abuse: Proffesor Gates and Crowley the thug.

Here we go again. Yet another case of some cop acting like a mindless thug. Lets take a look at what happened:

A lady calls in to the cops, reporting that 2 large black men are trying to force open her neighbors door. Officer Crowley shows up, and finds an elderly black man, who walks with a cane sitting on the front porch of the house. Crowley asks for ID, and the old guy presents his drivers license (which shows that address as his residence), and his Harvard University Faculty ID. Now in any sort of rational world, that would be the end of it. The cop would politely thank the guy, and move on. Of course, that would assume that the cop was capable of acting like a rational person.

Instead, thug Crowley refuses to let the matter drop, things escalate, and after putting up with crowley’s abuse, Professor Gates actually has the nerve to yell at him. Apparently, this is grounds for arrest. Because (according to crowley) the fact that crowley is alone, places him in dire danger of being attacked by a lame old man he’s been harassing. This particular incident is making national headlines because the victim is black. Unfortunately, what is getting lost in the race issue is the fact that this cop was completely out of line. If the victim had been a white Harvard professor, it wouldn’t be newsworthy. It is important to keep in mind that the problem is crowley’s behavior and his abuse of authority. Yes, the fact that he chose to act like a pig to a black guy does raise the specter of racism, but the underlying problem is Crowley’s willingness to use his badge to justify harassment, bullying and abuse.

Kudos to Obama for actually being willing to say to the nation that the cops actions were stupid. He’s right (although the cops action were a lot more than stupid, they were criminal). Unfortunately, he has since buckled to the police unions, who are afraid that the people might start holding them accountable for their actions. Yes, we all know Obama is a politician, but he actually STARTED OUT on the right track. Too bad he couldn’t stand up for truth and dedcency in the face of a union.

In any case the police department decided to drop the charges against Professor Gates  – further proving that Crowley’s actions were not only unwarranted, but were unsupportable. If the cops thought that they could make the charges stick, they wouldn’t have dropped them so quickly. So what do we really have? A cop who KNOWS that he can act the thug, escalate a situation, arrest his victim for no reason, and have no real repercussions.

What should be happening is that Crowley himself should be brought up on charges of abuse of power, intimidation, and illegal arrest. It is time to start holding cops accountable for their abuses. Maybe there was a racial basis to his behavior – if there was, he should be nailed even harder. If race was a basis for his abuse, this should be prosecuted as a hate crime. If race wasn’t an issue, it should still be prosecuted.

Lets face it folks, Gates got arrested because he was sitting on his front porch, and got upset when a cop harassed him. If we allow this type of abuse to continue, we’re letting the cops know that they can abuse, intimidate and harass people whenever they want. Think about this next time you’re sitting in your yard or on your porch: at any time, a cop can walk up to you and arrest you just because they’re having a bad day and feel like giving someone some grief. Makes you feel nice and safe doesn’t it.