Just because something is in a police report does not aways mean it is the truth...

bingo

I totally agree...but none of the other officers disputed the report. And please don't say it's their code.

Lets see the other officers reports...as they have to file one also.jmo

I was a police officer for 8 years. First of all the facts in this case that are known...the Professor did not give his ID willingly at first. The police have to run the ID, and in the meantime were verbally assaulted by the Professor. I think the Good Professor knew he had a friend in a high place and used it. He should have been happy the police came to check on his house and cooperated. But the police do not take things at face value, his ID had to be verified. Plenty of fake ones out there. The Professor should have told the neighbors, had a spare key, or whatever.

Then, the President, on a national press conference jumps in with saying, "he did not know all the facts and was not there, but it probably was profiling and the police acted stupidly"...I was shocked. I did not vote for Obama, but have given him my support since the election. He is the President. But as a law student from Harvard, where the Professor is also from, Obama jumped to a quick conclusion. That scared me, he is the President. He should have taken a pass on that question. I lost a lot of respect for Obama on this one.


Also, the Professor is bi-racial and proudly admitted according to DNA results, he is actually 56% white. Yet he jumps on the racial profiling bandwagon.

Well of course the officers reports will all match....
silly goose

Seeing an ID does not prove anything. It must be checked out. The Professor did not cooperate at any stage of the process, in fact, verbally assaulting the officers...there are lines you don't cross. I'm sure the police told him to calm down plenty of times before finally citing him. Now the Professor wants an apology. Paaleeze..he should thank the police for doing a good job..jmo Or was the fact that he is a good friend of the President, motivate his actions?

Like I said before I think this is being blown out of proportion. No,I dont think the officer is rascist. I also dont think its a good idea to piss off a cop. The cop did not have to make an arrest. The Professor shown that it was his house, the cop could have just left then. I would think a person trained in profiling would understand that an african american man of a certain age group would feel threatened by a cop in his own house. The officer could have had thicker skin and not let an elderly university professor get to him.The oldman is a prestigious citizen and hardly any sort of threat to anyone. And I feel its all being blown out of proportion.The officer didnt really do anything wrong except overreact slightly by arresting the Professor.It was the right move to drop the charge

I think it's more about him being a prestigious college professor at a prestigious college. He's not used to being treated like that.

Seriously, the Code of police officers is nothing like what it used to be. Too much at stake now. Careers, jobs, family's etc. Besides Police are soooo underpaid it is scary. silly goose.

Thank goodness for that! By 'code' you do mean the tendency for police to cover for each other, right? I think cellphone cameras and the internet have helped clean things up, too. But I also think it varies with the region.

Well put Modela. Thanks for saying it more literate than I did.

Modela said, "Obama should not comment on local news, stick to the national news."

He didn't just step up and make a comment. The press asked him about the situation during his Presidential speech. He also said that he didn't know the whole story but based on what he knows....

Based only on what I have read, it would seem that the entire confrontation could have been avoided if the professor had showed his ID. The police were acting upon a neighbor's call that she saw some people breaking into a home. I would hope that if it were MY house, the police would ask for ID and not just take someone's word that they were the residents of the house! What if strangers HAD broken into the professor's home and told the police that they lived there and the police then left? I bet Obama would then say that their actions were stupid. Again, based on what I have read, the officers were acting by the book and Obama should not comment on local news, stick to the national news.

Obama should apologize to the officer and the police department for saying they acted stupidly without any clue about what happened. I notice that he didn't include the possibility that his friend could have done something less than stellar. There is ample evidence that the officer is not one to racially profile people or denigrate people because of their race. His boss (a black man) choose him to teach others how to avoid profiling people. The "victim" has made his living with an emphasis that white people are racist. The reports from those on the scene indicate that he was at best uncooperative and making racist claims. The house had previously been broken into.


If you read the report, it states that at no time did Gates show identification, although he was repeatedly asked for it. I challenge everyone to read it for themselves, and then attempt to claim that Gates was cooperating. --http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0723092gates1.html-- All Gates had to do, is what EVERYONE is expected to do in this situation, SHOW HIS ID. If there is any accuracy in the report at all, he belligerently refused.

Now we're learning that the Honorable Professor uttered some disparaging remarks about the police officers mother. Where I come from, such comments can usually buy you an opportunity for dentures. It's not unusual for the public to scream for and demand that police officers be held to a higher standard of respect when going about their duties. Respect is a double edged sword and it swings both ways. An individual who is disruptive and argumentative during a confrontration wtih police is probably going to be dealt with in a manner fitting the display of temper. At this point at least were I officer Crowley I wouldn't offer an apology either. This isn't a case of black and/or white. It's a case of a home owner letting his alligator mouth overload his humming bird brain.