SAT., AUG 1, 2009 - 4:10 PMWisconsin State Journal
By DAVID COUPER
The "suds summit" is over.
After nearly two weeks of furor and national introspection, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden met with the professor and the cop.
The professor said: "We hit it off right from the beginning. When he's not arresting you, Sergeant Crowley is a really likable guy."
The cop said: "What you had today was two gentlemen who agreed to disagree on a particular issue."
But two "gentlemen" two weeks ago had a major disagreement that ended up in the White House.
Was this the teaching moment in American race relations that many of us were hoping for, or was it something else? To me, this is more about class than race. And the real issue is whether the police have to keep calm under provocation and not use arrest as a way to try to gain respect from citizens.
In my first year as a police officer, a wise old sergeant gave me some good advice. I had exchanged heated words with a person I had stopped for a traffic violation. Afterward, the sergeant took me aside and told me: "David, it's our job to keep our cool when everyone else is losing theirs. That's what police do."
He also didn't believe that disrespecting the police, "contempt of cop," was something that should prompt an arrest.
His advice served me well during almost a decade patrolling high-crime, inner-city Minneapolis. And it stayed with me when I became chief of the Madison Police Department.
It was why, when I first came to Madison, I said my job was to build a department of police officers who were also "human behavior experts" -- police officers who were able to understand the problems police get themselves into.
Depending on who tells the story about what happened on the afternoon of July 16, it goes something like this: A black college professor returning home from vacation is unable to open his front door. He forces the door open and enters just as a suspicious neighbor calls police. A white police sergeant arrives and asks the homeowner for identification.
Heated words are exchanged inside the home. The professor is asked to step outside where he is arrested for disorderly conduct. He is handcuffed, taken to the police station, booked, photographed, and, about four hours later, charges are dropped and the professor is released.
In the inner city, this is not an unusual occurrence. What made this case different was that Henry Louis Gates is a Harvard professor. And what really made it different was Sgt. James Crowley feeling he had been disrespected.
Civil rights advocates say this proves the police are racially profiling. Police leaders say it has nothing to do with race and citizens should cooperate with police -- not insult them.
There are explanations, excuses and counter-charges from all sides.
But class and respect are the best explanations for what went wrong. It was a meeting between two men wanting respect in a society not conditioned to give it to them.
Comedian Rodney Dangerfield joked about wanting a "little respect," but this is no joking matter -- and Rodney didn't wear a badge and carry a gun.
And that's why the responsibility here is clearly and primarily on the police. They are the representatives of our government and the protectors of our Constitution. They are, and should be trained, to keep their cool because often citizens do not keep theirs.
Respect does not come from using either fear or force. Police earn the community's respect by staying calm -- even under a barrage of hostile and contemptible language.
This does not mean that police should no nothing when they are physically pushed or shoved. Gates did not lay his hands on Crowley nor push him. If he had, I might not be writing this.
President Obama may have spoken too quickly in calling the actions of the police "stupid." But the officer's action was unnecessary. This arrest should not have happened. Period.
If my old sergeant were still alive and had sat in on the "beer summit," he would have told them all to settle down. And as he was leaving, I am sure he would take Crowley aside and remind him that it's our job to keep our cool -- even when Harvard professors don't.
Couper, Blue Mounds, served as Madison police chief from 1972 to 1993. He is also a member of the Clarence Kailin Chapter of Veterans For Peace.
After nearly two weeks of furor and national introspection, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden met with the professor and the cop.
The professor said: "We hit it off right from the beginning. When he's not arresting you, Sergeant Crowley is a really likable guy."
The cop said: "What you had today was two gentlemen who agreed to disagree on a particular issue."
But two "gentlemen" two weeks ago had a major disagreement that ended up in the White House.
Was this the teaching moment in American race relations that many of us were hoping for, or was it something else? To me, this is more about class than race. And the real issue is whether the police have to keep calm under provocation and not use arrest as a way to try to gain respect from citizens.
In my first year as a police officer, a wise old sergeant gave me some good advice. I had exchanged heated words with a person I had stopped for a traffic violation. Afterward, the sergeant took me aside and told me: "David, it's our job to keep our cool when everyone else is losing theirs. That's what police do."
He also didn't believe that disrespecting the police, "contempt of cop," was something that should prompt an arrest.
His advice served me well during almost a decade patrolling high-crime, inner-city Minneapolis. And it stayed with me when I became chief of the Madison Police Department.
It was why, when I first came to Madison, I said my job was to build a department of police officers who were also "human behavior experts" -- police officers who were able to understand the problems police get themselves into.
Depending on who tells the story about what happened on the afternoon of July 16, it goes something like this: A black college professor returning home from vacation is unable to open his front door. He forces the door open and enters just as a suspicious neighbor calls police. A white police sergeant arrives and asks the homeowner for identification.
Heated words are exchanged inside the home. The professor is asked to step outside where he is arrested for disorderly conduct. He is handcuffed, taken to the police station, booked, photographed, and, about four hours later, charges are dropped and the professor is released.
In the inner city, this is not an unusual occurrence. What made this case different was that Henry Louis Gates is a Harvard professor. And what really made it different was Sgt. James Crowley feeling he had been disrespected.
Civil rights advocates say this proves the police are racially profiling. Police leaders say it has nothing to do with race and citizens should cooperate with police -- not insult them.
There are explanations, excuses and counter-charges from all sides.
But class and respect are the best explanations for what went wrong. It was a meeting between two men wanting respect in a society not conditioned to give it to them.
Comedian Rodney Dangerfield joked about wanting a "little respect," but this is no joking matter -- and Rodney didn't wear a badge and carry a gun.
And that's why the responsibility here is clearly and primarily on the police. They are the representatives of our government and the protectors of our Constitution. They are, and should be trained, to keep their cool because often citizens do not keep theirs.
Respect does not come from using either fear or force. Police earn the community's respect by staying calm -- even under a barrage of hostile and contemptible language.
This does not mean that police should no nothing when they are physically pushed or shoved. Gates did not lay his hands on Crowley nor push him. If he had, I might not be writing this.
President Obama may have spoken too quickly in calling the actions of the police "stupid." But the officer's action was unnecessary. This arrest should not have happened. Period.
If my old sergeant were still alive and had sat in on the "beer summit," he would have told them all to settle down. And as he was leaving, I am sure he would take Crowley aside and remind him that it's our job to keep our cool -- even when Harvard professors don't.
Couper, Blue Mounds, served as Madison police chief from 1972 to 1993. He is also a member of the Clarence Kailin Chapter of Veterans For Peace.
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