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Wayne.B

On Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:00:43 -0400, wrote:

On Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:47:02 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:03:55 -0400, NotNow wrote:

Richard Weinblatt, director of the Institute for Public Safety at
Central Ohio Technical College, said the police sergeant was responsible
for defusing the situation once he realized Gates was the lawful
occupant. It is not against the law to yell at police, especially in a
home, as long as that behavior does not affect an investigation, he said.

"That is part of being a police officer in a democratic society,"
Weinblatt said. "The point is that the police sergeant needs to be the
bigger person, take the higher road, be more professional."

And that is absolulutely correct. The police need training to back
down gracefully, make their apologies and leave once the true
situation is known. A certain amount of racial profiling is probably
inevitable in police work but professionalism and respect can make the
difference in how it is perceived.

If you start right out attacking the police, I am not sure it is easy
or even expected that you should get off easy. It is clear Gates
started right out with a chip on his shoulder at a time when he should
have been appreciative that the police were interested in protecting
his home. That is why I will not be surprised if that initial thing I
saw that indicated the cop thought he was drunk is true.
You know in this 24 hour news cycle, there are reporters interviewing
the flight attendants on his flight, the driver and anyone else who
might have seen him that morning.

I have no doubt that there is plenty of culpability on the part of
Gates applying normal standards of behavior and decorum. The cops
however, once realizing that they'd made an honest mistake, should
have let it go. Although it would have been nice if Gates had shown
a little restraint on his part, he was probably already a bit out of
sorts even before the police arrived from the 20 hour flight, arriving
home to find himself locked out, etc. Who knows what else may have
gone wrong for him that day? There's plenty of opportunity for that
when you are traveling.