Cops want Obama to apologize.

[snoopdan 5,000+ posts]

Obama: Scholar's arrest 'a teachable moment'President stops short of apologizing to police for 'acting stupidly' remark

BOSTON - President Barack Obama on Friday stopped short of apologizing for his remarks that police officers "acted stupidly" when they arrested a black Harvard scholar but said he hopes the incident becomes "a teachable moment."

In a brief foray into the White House briefing room, Obama told reporters he should have chosen his words more carefully when discussing the arrest of his friend, Henry Louis Gates Jr. But he said he continues to believe there was an "overreaction" by police.

The president said he has spoken to the white Cambridge police officer who made the arrest and calls him a good man.

"My hope is that as a consequence of this event, this ends up being what’s called ‘a teachable moment' where all of us, instead of pumping up the volume, spend a little more time listening to each other,” he said.

Earlier, a multiracial group of police officers stood with the white officer who arrested Gates and asked Obama and Gov. Deval Patrick to apologize for comments union leaders called insulting.

Obama said Wednesday that Cambridge police "acted stupidly" during the disorderly conduct arrest of Gates in his own home near Harvard University. Gov. Deval Patrick said Gates' arrest was "every black man's nightmare."

Both Obama and Patrick are black, and the president's comment marked his first foray into a divisive racial issue — a striking departure from his "post-racial" impartiality.

Dennis O'Connor, president of the Cambridge Police Superior Officers Association, said Obama's remarks were "misdirected" and the Cambridge police "deeply resent the implication" that race was a factor in the arrest.

"President Obama said the actions of the CPD were stupid and linked the event to the history of racial profiling in America," O'Connor said. "The facts of the case suggested that the president used the right adjective but directed it to the wrong party."

A black police officer who was at Gates' home during the arrest said he fully supports how his white fellow officer handled the situation.

Sgt. Leon Lashley said Gates was probably tired and surprised when Sgt. James Crowley demanded identification from him as officers investigated a report of a burglary. Lashley said Gates' reaction to Crowley was "a little bit stranger than it should have been."

Asked if Gates should have been arrested, Lashley said he supported Crowley "100 percent."

The White House earlier said Obama regretted commenting on the arrest of Gates. Press secretary Robert Gibbs told NBC News that Obama wished he had not escalated the issue, adding that the media's "obsessions" were keeping alive Obama's comments.

"Had he known it would become such a media distraction, he would have refrained from commenting. But the president has said all he's going to say on the issue," Gibbs told NBC News. "He has not talked to Gates nor the Cambridge police officer."

Gibbs said Obama has "great respect" for police officers and understands what a hard job they have.

Differing accounts

Officers responded to Gates' home on July 16 after a woman called 911 and said she saw two black men with backpacks trying to force open the front door. The woman, Lucia Whalen, has not responded to repeated attempts for comment.

Gates has said he returned from an overseas trip, found the door jammed, and that he and his driver attempted to force it open. Gates went through the back door and was inside the house on the phone with the property's management company when police arrived.

Police said he flew into a verbal rage after Crowley asked him to show identification to prove he should be in the home. Police say Gates accused Crowley of racial bias, refused to calm down and was arrested. The charge was dropped Tuesday, but Gates has demanded an apology, calling his arrest a case of racial profiling.

Gates, 58, maintains he turned over identification when asked to do so by the police. He said Crowley arrested him after the professor followed him to the porch, repeatedly demanding the sergeant's name and badge number because he was unhappy over his treatment.

Crowley has refused to apologize, saying he followed protocol.

Crowley said he still supports the president, who attended Harvard Law School in Cambridge and garnered 88 percent of the vote there in last year's presidential election.

"I think he was way off base wading into a local issue without knowing all the facts as he himself stated before he made that comment," Crowley told WBZ-AM.

Officers speak out

Many police officers across the country have the same message for Obama: Get all the facts before criticizing one of our own. Obama's "acted stupidly" remark could make it harder for police to work with people of color, some officers said.

It could even set back the progress in race relations that helped Obama become the nation's first African-American president, they said.

"What we don't need is public safety officials across the country second-guessing themselves," said David Holway, president of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, which represents 15,000 public safety officials around the country. "The president's alienated public safety officers across the country with his comments."

"To make the remark about 'stupidly' is maybe not the right adverb," said Santa Monica, Calif., police Sgt. Jay Trisler, who has been in law enforcement for 24 years. "When an incident occurs with a police department, we're not quick to judge."

He lamented negative opinions being directed at police.

"It's unfortunate because there are so many other police cases where an elected official has made a comment that wasn't correct, comments that could have been better worded," he said. "Look at Rodney King. It's a high-profile case, and everyone is entitled to an opinion."

Obama's comments could diminish work done by law enforcement to address racial issues, said James Preston, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Florida State Lodge.

"By reducing all contact between law enforcement and the public to the color of their skin or ethnicity is, in fact, counterproductive to improving relationships," Preston said. "To make such an off-handed comment about a subject without benefit of the facts, in such a public forum, hurts police/community relations and is a setback to all of the years of progress."

Cliffs:

Cops arrest Obama's buddy in his own house for breaking in his own house.

Cops let dude go after realizing they're fucktards

Obama mentions the cops were stupid.

Cops whine.

Obama is commander and chief. Period. Cops need to shut the fuck up and remain to the chain of duty.

Discuss?

Click to read more...

 

[Rich B 5,000+ posts]

Those cops were dumbsh!ts.

 

[john denver 10+ year member]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090724/ap_on_re_us/us_harvard_scholar_arresting_officer

 

[04silverz 10+ year member]

ehhh...the actual charge he was arrested with was not for breaking into his house. It was for disorderly conduct.

 

[snoopdan 5,000+ posts]

ehhh...the actual charge he was arrested with was not for breaking into his house. It was for disorderly conduct.

"disorderly conduct" is in the eye of the beholder. You can say "fucker" in front of a cop and it could be concluded as disorderly conduct.

Id be pretty pissed off if I lived where homie lived and a cop was hassln' me. To me, that would be like a cop pulling up in your drive way, comming into your garage and trying to give you a ticket for illegal tint.

 

[lolumad over 10+ year member]

Cliffs:
Cops arrest Obama's buddy in his own house for breaking in his own house.

Cops let dude go after realizing they're fucktards

Obama mentions the cops were stupid.

Cops whine.

Obama is commander and chief. Period. Cops need to shut the fuck up and remain to the chain of duty.

Discuss?

What is there to discuss? You summed it up quite well. The only thing to note is the obvious racism by the white officers. Not only were they profiling this scholar, but apparently they can't stand a black man being in charge.

 

[lolumad over 10+ year member]

The guy was being an idiot, making \"Yo mama\" jokes to the cops and whatnot. Now they say its racially motivated...
The 3 officers that were there were white, black, and spanish. The guy who made the arrest was the white guy who was handpicked by his black superior to teach a class on how to avoid racial profiling.

The teacher was the idiot. If the neighbors saw a guy breaking into a house, they should call the cops. If the teacher would have been nice and not a jackass and did what the cops said, there would be no problem.

The neighbors are racist too. What kind of neighbor doesn't recognize the owner of the home? thats right, a racist snob, thats who.

 

[TeamRetribution 10+ year member]

The prez is a idiot also ...kinda like the blind leading the blind

 

[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

Ok, so the cop gets a report of a break-in, so he responds. Unbeknownst to him, it is the resident of the house trying to get in. He knows nothing about who lives in the house.

He responds because he was close, and the dude refuses to come out because he's a black guy and the cop is white, so its automatically profiling.

The cop is about to leave, but the professor continues to heckle him until the cop arrests him, in view of onlookers and other cops (including black cops).

The professor paints the cop as a racist. Funny that the man is a professor in African American studies. Agenda anyone?

Obama calls him stupid.

Turns out that cop is a teacher in his police department who teaches other cops how not to profile.

Long story short, the only ones who acted stupidly were Barack and the professor.

 

[lolumad over 10+ year member]

Ok, so the cop gets a report of a break-in, so he responds. Unbeknownst to him, it is the resident of the house trying to get in. He knows nothing about who lives in the house.
He responds because he was close, and the dude refuses to come out because he's a black guy and the cop is white, so its automatically profiling.

The cop is about to leave, but the professor continues to heckle him until the cop arrests him, in view of onlookers and other cops (including black cops).

The professor paints the cop as a racist. Funny that the man is a professor in African American studies. Agenda anyone?

Obama calls him stupid.

Turns out that cop is a teacher in his police department who teaches other cops how not to profile.

Long story short, the only ones who acted stupidly were Barack and the professor.

racist

 

[Revolution 10+ year member]

That looks like a LOSE, LOSE situation. Im surpised Obama even said anything. Usually when a president wants to say some stupid stuff he lets his press sec. do it.

 

[bones22 5,000+ posts]

Ok, so the cop gets a report of a break-in, so he responds. Unbeknownst to him, it is the resident of the house trying to get in. He knows nothing about who lives in the house.
He responds because he was close, and the dude refuses to come out because he's a black guy and the cop is white, so its automatically profiling.

The cop is about to leave, but the professor continues to heckle him until the cop arrests him, in view of onlookers and other cops (including black cops).

The professor paints the cop as a racist. Funny that the man is a professor in African American studies. Agenda anyone?

Obama calls him stupid.

Turns out that cop is a teacher in his police department who teaches other cops how not to profile.

Long story short, the only ones who acted stupidly were Barack and the professor.

at least someone else has paid attention to the articles. i hope it blows up in Gates face. would be a nice turn of events for the judge to tell him hes an idiot and then the cop take him to civil court for defamation of character. afterall all this shows is Gates is a bigot himself and wants to be treated special because hes black. same goes for Obama

 

[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

The Commander in Chief is not in a local police unit's chain of command...unless the police are some how linked to the military. I would think the police is a state/local institution, not a federal one.

 

[bones22 5,000+ posts]

That looks like a LOSE, LOSE situation. Im surpised Obama even said anything. Usually when a president wants to say some stupid stuff he lets his press sec. do it.

to make it worse there was an article this morning with Obama talking about how surprised he is that his comment has drawn so much attention. maybe hes even more of an idiot than we think. after all he is the one that had a news conference and had the serious lapse in judgement by saying what he did. the man is an idiot.

 

[csu87 10+ year member]

And you guys thought bush was dumb...

This was just as dumb. Did anyone actually watch the press conference? It was a lot of sideskirting the issue of healthcare, then he says this and everyone cringes because its an idiotic thing to say. We all knew he was going to use the race card because every black does.