Cambridge Cops: Panel to Review Gates Case

But Commissioner Stands by Arresting Officer, a Racial Profiling Expert; Says Dept. Was "Pained" by Obama Comments

(CBS/AP)  Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert Hass said that his department would review a panel of local experts and community leaders to review the events surrounding the arrest of black scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., July 16.

He said the panel's membership would be announced in the next few days.

Haas said repeatedly that he regrets that the situation occurred, but also stood by Crowley, who he said has been "widely recognized" in the department.

"Sgt. Crowley is a stellar member of this department," Haas said. "I don’t consider him a rogue cop in any way."

Still, Haas said, it would be a "mistake" not to take the opportunity to learn from the events of July 16 by appointing the panel and fully investigating the case.

"This department is deeply pained," Haas said. "It takes its professional pride very seriously."

The white police sergeant who arrested Gates in his Massachusetts home is a police academy expert on understanding racial profiling.

Cambridge Sgt. James Crowley has taught a class about racial profiling for five years at the Lowell Police Academy after being hand-picked for the job by former police Commissioner Ronny Watson, who is black, said Academy Director Thomas Fleming.

"I have nothing but the highest respect for him as a police officer. He is very professional and he is a good role model for the young recruits in the police academy," Fleming told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The course, called "Racial Profiling," teaches about different cultures that officers could encounter in their community "and how you don't want to single people out because of their ethnic background or the culture they come from," Fleming said. The academy trains cadets for cities across the region.

In a news conference Wednesday night, President Barack Obama, who is a friend of Gates, criticized Crowley and the police department's handling of the case.

"I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry," Mr. Obama said. "Number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. And number three - what I think we know separate and apart from this incident - is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, and that's just a fact."

But today, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs tried to walk back some of Mr. Obama's remarks, saying the president was not calling the officer stupid, just remarking that cooler heads should have prevailed, reports CBS News national correspondent Jim Axelrod .

President Obama told ABC News earlier Thursday that he was "surprised" by the controversy generated by his comments.

"I think it was a pretty straightforward commentary that you probably don't need to handcuff a guy, a middle-aged man who uses a cane, who's in his own home," the president said, arguing that Gates should not have been arrested.

But Mr. Obama added that he has "extraordinary respect for the difficulties of the job that police officers do" and that it is his understanding that Crowley is an "outstanding police officer."

(Read more from CBSNews.com's Political Hotsheet blog.)

Crowley, 42, has maintained he did nothing wrong and has refused to apologize, as Gates has demanded.

Asked about Mr. Obama's remarks last night, he added, "When I talk to officers throughout the department during the course of the day you could see that they were really stunned by … taking those comments to heart. They were very much deflated."

In an interview with CBS station WBZ in Boston Thursday morning, Crowley also responded to the president's comments.

"I didn't vote for him," he said.

"I support the president of the United States 110 percent [but] I think he's way off base wading into a local issue without knowing all the facts, as he himself stated before he made that comment," Crowley continued.

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Watch WBZ's entire interview with Crowley

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Gates, director of Harvard's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, has said he was "outraged" by the arrest. He said the white officer walked into his home without his permission and only arrested him as the professor followed him to the porch, repeatedly demanding the sergeant's name and badge number because he was unhappy over his treatment.

Crowley responded to Gates' home near Harvard University last week to investigate a report of a burglary and demanded Gates show him identification. Police say Gates at first refused, flew into a rage and accused the officer of racism.

Gates was charged with disorderly conduct. The charge was dropped Tuesday.

Crowley is an 11-year veteran of the force, Axelrod reports. He says he asked Gates to step outside for his own safety - standard practice since he didn't know if there was a suspect inside.

In his police report he said Gates replied, "Yeah, I'll speak with your mama outside," reports Axelrod.

"There was a lot of yelling. There were references to my mother something you wouldn't expect from somebody who should be grateful that you are there investigating a reportable crime in progress, let alone a Harvard University professor," Crowley said.

Gates' supporters maintain his arrest was a case of racial profiling. Officers were called to the home by a woman who said she saw "two black males with backpacks" trying to break in the front door. Gates has said he arrived home from an overseas trip and the door was jammed.

Crowley did not immediately respond to messages left Thursday by the AP. The Cambridge police department scheduled a news conference for later Thursday.

Gates has said he was "outraged" by the arrest. He said the white officer walked into his home without his permission and only arrested him as the professor followed him to the porch, repeatedly demanding the sergeant's name and badge number because he was unhappy over his treatment.

"This isn't about me; this is about the vulnerability of black men in America," Gates said.

He said the incident made him realize how vulnerable poor people and minorities are "to capricious forces like a rogue policeman, and this man clearly was a rogue policeman."

The president said federal officials need to continue working with local law enforcement "to improve policing techniques so that we're eliminating potential bias."

Fellow officers, black and white, say Crowley is well-liked and respected on the force. Crowley was a campus police officer at Brandeis University in July 1993 when he administered CPR trying to save the life of former Boston Celtics player Reggie Lewis. Lewis, who was black, collapsed and died during an off-season workout.

Gov. Deval Patrick, who is black, said he was troubled and upset over the incident. Cambridge Mayor Denise Simmons, who also is black, has said she spoke with Gates and apologized on behalf of the city, and a statement from the city called the July 16 incident "regrettable and unfortunate."

The mayor refused Thursday to comment on the president's remarks.

On Thursday, the White House tried to calm a hubbub over Obama's comments by saying Obama was not calling the officer stupid. Spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama felt that "at a certain point the situation got far out of hand" at Gates' home last week.

Police supporters charge that Gates, director of Harvard's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, was responsible for his own arrest by overreacting.

Black students and professors at Harvard have complained for years about racial profiling by Cambridge and campus police. Harvard commissioned an independent committee last year to examine the university's race relations after campus police confronted a young black man who was using tools to remove a bike lock. The man worked at Harvard and owned the bike.

Related Coverage:

White House: Obama Didn't Call Officer Stupid

Prof. Gates, Cambridge and Racial Politics

Cop Who Cuffed Gates Tried to Save NBA Pro

Cambridge Cop: Gates' Arrest by the Book

Gates Devastated by Arrest, Says Daughter

Obama: Cops Acted "Stupidly" in Professor's Arrest

Black Professor Wants Apology over Arrest

Was Professor's Arrest 'Racial Profiling'?

Gates Speaks out about His Arrest

Charges Against Harvard Scholar Dropped

Profiling Charge In Black Scholar's Arrest

[LDMC5305]

Who is the president to even comment on something that's none of his business in the first place?

The police came to this mans home to help him - maybe he should of kept his mouth shut and showed his ID as asked and not ran his mouth.

If that were you or I and we ran our mouth to a local police officer we would of been arrested and no one would of dropped the charges at a later date.

Are we sure our president isn't a racist?

[JimRobenson]

After being a police officer for 26 years, retiring as the Chief of Police and consulting on police agencies in 10 different states, I am amazed at the actions of Sergeant Crowley.
There is no law against a citizen being irate, irritated or angry about being contacted by police officers for alleged law violations. If what I have read is correct, I can?t began to understand what Sergeant Crowley arrested Dr. Gates for, after Dr. Gates had shown his identification in his home to the officer.
Further, it is accepted and established ?protocol? that when any citizen asks an on-duty (uniform or not) police officer for his name, badge number and identification (there are a lot of badges around). Even a uniformed officer is required to have on his/her person at all times, proper identification that substantiates that they are who they appear to be. Failure of an officer to give his/her name, badge number and identification when requested to do so by any person with whom they are dealing with in any capacity is a serious violation of established national administrative policies and practices and if sustained can be negatively sanctioned up to termination .
What we are taught to do is to leave the scene and not to escalate the matter when it is obvious that the victim, suspect, etc. is upset. Extending the time of the interview once, it was clear the person was not a suspect and there was no crime smacks of ?contempt of cop?.
I am not sure what legitimate crime was being committed when Dr. Gates was arrested.
If a person is disturbing the peace in their own home, then it requires a third party to lodge a complaint and the police would, perhaps, eventually arrest the person for the neighbor complainant.
Now I understand why the charge was dropped.
It appears the arrest was illegal.

James Robenson

[DavidFromWI]

WHEN DID THE LEFT STOP STICKING UP FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS UNION MEMBER AVERAGE JOE AND PROTECT THE RICH WELL CONNECTED INSTEAD? Its so tragic that HERR PROFESSOR was arrested for what amounts to less of a crime than a parking ticket at Wally World. OH GOD that poor poor well connected, rich, I am friends with the most powerful man in the world professor. Sad thing is there are many people that are suffering at the hand of racism WHITE AND BLACK and this ELITIST SLOB thinks that HIS DOESN'T STINK? What do you suppose he wanted the poor slubs badge number and name for to send him a thank you card. I bet you dollars to doughnuts (no pun intended) it was to give to make sure this cop wised he never bothered such a superior man of letters. ABOUT RACE???? its about a professor that had to save face because his was plastered on the evening news and we CANT HAVE THAT!!!!!!We call the police heroes when they die in 9/11 or at a holocaust museum AS WE SHOULD but go agaist a well connected RICH POWERFUL CAN CALL CNN OR ABC OR CBS BECAUSE THEY KNOW ME or buddy Obama and some how its seen as the police officer was ABUSING HIS POWER??????OH sure I bet Gates wants to see if he can make this working stiffs job any more a nightmare. I guess the police and fire men are heroes until they go after a professor. IT NEVER WAS ABOUT THE PROFESSORS RACE BTWWhat VP of the networks did he KNOW and CALL to facilitate the OUTRAGE and HEADLINES.PIGS and SNOBS and I don't mean the police!!!!!!! I have sympathy for this cop and as much for every black man, woman and child that thinks they voted for change or that GATES has their best interest at heart.This is the wost case REAL ABUSE OF POWER in a generation and people are still rooting for the POWER?I would stand side by side with any man black or white but I have l ZERO respect for a man who claims to fight for the middle class but has such a knee jerk reaction AGAINST A POLICE OFFICER TO STICK UP FOR HIS IVY LEAGUE FRIEND. LEFT FOR THE LITTLE GUY? HA HA HA FRICKING HA. I want to vomit thinking about it.

[horse3farm]

Give me a freaking break!!!! Let's just milk this until the end of time. I'm sick of hearing about it, I'm sick of the news channels carrying it. Gates needs to direct his anger at his hate-filled neighbor who called police in the first place. This just shows how petty and stupid this country is.

[c3pee0h]

It is well known that Harvard limits the right of free speech to exclude any kind of personal comment including those about race and religion. I guess Professor Gates thinks this behavior doesn't apply off campus. Even someone not as smart as this Professor knows that when a cop tells you that you'll be arrested if you continue your behavior its time to act wisely, not stupidly.

[killadeaux]

If I had 6 policemen come to my door because a neighbor reported a possible breakin, I would be vewry cooperative and thankfull. Put yourself in the officer's position. He didn't know Dr. Gates personally. Could there be a possible hostage situation or some other circumstance needing clarification. Dr. Gates initially refused to give his identification. Wouldn't an uncooperative person refusing to identfy himself give reason for suspicion? Professor Gates then became beligerent for no reason accusing the officers of being racist. There were white, black and Latino officers present. Were they all racist?
If Professor Gates would have thanked the officers for their service, the problem would not have occurred. Professor Gates is the one who acted stupidly, not Officer Crowley. Do you think that Officer Crowley would have been put in charge of teaching other officers proper procedure in detainng suspects in order to avoid racial profiling situations if he was not competent or if he did not have the credentials for the job?
Could Professor Gates have deliberately become loud and obnoxious in order to gain publicity from his arrest? Could Professor Gates be the one who is racist?

[artel35]

Until white people have walked in a black people shoes they will never get it. I wonder why you keep talking to people who are afraid to step on someone people toes. Talk to real people.

[cbsantispin]

Police Officers get cussed out all the time, are you kidding me? Officer Crowley obviously has a thin skin and can't go around arresting everyone who agitates him. Once Prof. Gates showed his ID and Officer Crowley found there was no crime, Officer Crowley should have left the scene like normal cops do and not hang around looking for a crime to pounce on. Once the emotion and race is taken out of the equation, people will realize that Officer Crowley's arrest of an old man on a cane in his own home "was" acting stupidly. The Police are usually too busy to find time for Crowley's nonsense anyway. Like someone pointed out, let it had been a Black Cop arresting a prominent White Professor, then it would be a different story altogether, the Black Cop would be mud. All these other issues deserving more attention, 2 wars, economy struggling through a deep recession, trying to pass National Health Care so all Americans can be covered and people only springing to life over a racial incident with Rush (Farrakhan) Limbaugh leading the hate parade. Kind of shows where people's heads and interest are.

[mejordelahistoria]

I think the cop simply was checking to see if the correct owner was in the house and the professor couldn't take to the idea that someone as little a simple cop could touch him, after all he has chofer...... Just because you have a doctorate doesn't make him superior to anyone.

[EyeCeeUs]

Fire the cop and take his job,after all he made a mistake. Our president angered the public and their not going to forget.

[TXliberal]

The cop said he was provided 2 forms of ID that proved that Gates lived there. Regardless of how Gates was acting, and how angry he was at being questioned...the second the cop finds out he lives there, the cop is supposed to leave. There is no possible way that after he proved he lived there, regardless of how the situation escalated (being that there was no physical contact), the cop has not a single right to arrest Gates for being a jerk. Lots of people are jerks. It isn't illegal. If you came into my house and wouldn't leave after I proved that I lived there, I will be a jerk too. Gestapo police tactics will have to end...or the people will being acting like that to the police.

[clarencebev]

Fire the Chief of Police. Once the ID was provided; that should have ended the inquiry. The police should have, immediately, left the property.

[trallvin]

Once again, this is clearly a case of a white police officer who predetermined how a black man should act and what and how that black man should speak in his presence. This officer?s predetermination arose without him ever taking into account the actions of him and his fellow officers. Sgt Crowley?s actions ultimately helped provoke a protective response stemmed from pride and civic responsibility. Prof Gates is obviously a successful and gifted black man who would not have been a real man had he not stood his ground. His response is every black man's duty whenever determinates are made based upon our skin color. It is also everyone's responsibility to take incidences like this as a lesson and learn from them. Entrenched belief mechanisms are hard to break but never impossible. Being involved in a racist act doesn't create a racist person but the tolerance and ignorance of that act does. Denial is a very powerful thing, when you truly commit a racist act nobody will know this better than you. Cultural insensitivities spawn misunderstanding so the goodness in all this is that it is making people look in the mirror. Remember, whatever lie we've been told in this life, reality will tell us the truth, if you do not know this by now, just keep on living...and you eventually will.

[valentin73]

Americans need to stop being a racially divided country!
I am neither white or black and I have to put up with this racial issue (all the time).
Enough is Enough!

[ksuejewell]

I am a professor and like like Henry Louis Gates, had a similar experience with a police officer when my alarm system malfunctioned and an officer came to my home and treated me as a suspect and was angry and disrectful. The situation was defused when an African American officer arrived. But the white officer?s behavior was very antagonistic when he left as it was when he arrived. Another experience with a local law enforcement officer that was equally horrific which I discuss under the title, ?Bruce: the Bully Behind the Badge?? in my book Survival of the African American Family, 2003. In addition, I asked for his name and the badge number in this situation, and was given false information. Professor Gates? experience is not isolated nor is it simply local. It is national and occurs on a systematic basis. These experiences have served as topics of discussion on racial profiling in courses that I have taught.

[stupiddoes44]

I voted for Obama, I won't make that mistake again. When a person makes a comment on a subject he knows nothing about and then calls the entire police department stupid. OMG are we in trouble.

[woeisme1]

It sounds as if you may have been in trouble long long before Obama.

[stupiddoes44]

It's a shame they do not teach common sense at Harvarrd. A neighbor calls and states that there is a break in at Gates home. What did you expect the officer to do ? What an idiot !

[stupiddoes44]

It's a shame they do not teach common sense at Harvard.

[cr747]

Sounds to me like Gates and Obam-bam are the racist here. If Crowley had given Gates some watermelon everything would have been alright. Unless Gates started spitting seeds on him. Then it would been self defense.

[woodynews1]

From an up to date English language standpoint, the word stupid can mean foolish. When you consider that Crowley was called an "expert" in racial profiling (How would he be an expert and lifetime Scholar, Educator and Sociologist Gates not?), he did act "stupid"(like a fool in the biblical sense). Those of us who have been trained (USAF DOD) in race relations know foolish race relations behavior when we see it. The Police Department dropped the charges. They know that it was stupid!

Signed: Certified in Human Relations and Trainer of Security Personnel(25 years)
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History will clearly show that some of our smartest Presidents have said some stupid (foolish) things. Now if smart Presidents can said stupid (foolish) things, how about police officers (I went to school with a few who aren't that smart)?

Right or wrong, Mr. Obama is the President of these United States!

Pray for all concerned!