Black motorists may be as much as three times more likely to be stopped and searched than a white motorist while driving through the state of West Virginia, even though they are less likely to be carrying contraband. This is so according to a report by the state Division of Criminal Justice Services. The agency performed a statistical analysis of 301,479 traffic stops that took place between April 2007 and September 2008. Among all 348 state, county and local law enforcement agencies, blacks were 64 percent more likely than whites to be stopped. Hispanics were 48 percent more likely to be stopped.
Once pulled over, a black and Hispanic drivers were 146 percent more likely to be searched — even though they were less likely to be carrying contraband than whites, according to the study. Indians and Asians were more likely than whites to be carrying prohibited items when searched.
In certain parts of the state, minorities are treated differently. In Calhoun and Wirt counties, for example, blacks and Hispanics were six times more likely to be searched. The Parkersburg and Martinsburg police departments were twice as likely to stop minorities. However, even in cities like Charleston where police treated white and non-white motorists equally, certain patrol areas such as North Charleston and South Ruffner to Route 119 targeted non-whites.
“Despite the higher search rates for black drivers, Charleston PD, Beckley PD, Huntington PD, and Wheeling PD had lower contraband hit rates for black drivers compared to white drivers,” the report explained.
The study also found that 23.8 percent of drivers ticketed were from out-of-state. Tickets were most frequently issued — 44 percent of the time — for speeding. The month of May and the hours of 4pm and 10pm are the most heavily ticketed times. Each stop lasted an average of eleven minutes and drivers had a 49.5 percent chance of escaping with just a warning. The study did not examine any disparity in the frequency of warnings issued to women as compared to men.
The state legislature ordered police agencies to begin gathering racial data on January 1, 2007. A copy of the final report is available in a 275k PDF file at the source link below.
Source: 
West Virginia Traffic Stop Study (WV Division of Criminal Justice Services, 2/28/2009)
Is this really a suprise?
Do people really not know that White Cops stop non-whites on a whim and that they don’t obey the laws regarding racial profiling?
My idea to decrease racial profiling on the highways is for Blacks to tint the windows just under the maximum legal allowed tint level.
If Cops can’t see what color you are, they have no choice but to stop you randomly and actually obey the damn law.
Chris rock pretty much lays out the situation:
“Despite the higher search rates for black drivers, Charleston PD, Beckley PD, Huntington PD, and Wheeling PD had lower contraband hit rates for black drivers compared to white drivers,” the report explained.
NO KIDDING.
Maybe its because BLACKS KNOW THEY ARE BEING UNFAIRLY TARGETED, and therefore realize that if they have contraband on them that the probability of them being stopped is so high that they will be caught.
How many people stopped are repeat offenders, parolees, or breaking the law in the first place? I don’t doubt the numbers above, but motivations are another story.
This also proves John Denver was most likely a racist.
Paging Professor Gates! White Cops behaving stupidly in West Virginia!
See Warren, MI if you really want to see exampels of DWB.
Statistics can be used to prove just about any point desired. All you have to do is remove the data that explains the discrepancy and it looks alarming.
The beauty in a survey like this is there is no easy way to examine 300,000 traffic stops to determine why the officer decided to dive in the car. Since we know the race of the offender it’s a relatively easy matter to compile statistical data on the subject. Race becomes the only apparent reason a search was initiated. We lay out government grant research money for this kind of stuff.
So is the beef with LE searching cars, or is it with them not searching other races, or a little bit of both? The lesson here is not that white traffic cops should be chastised and discouraged from searching minorities but maybe that we should all (minorities included) not carry contraband in one’s car. The outraged among us want a magic wand that prevents searches on those who have no contraband without a way to make that determination accurately. Most people don’t work as police officers so they can’t understand why this is so hard.
If the “solution” is bans or limits on the ability to search the vehicles of minorities we are going to create a problem. Starting with lawsuits and ending with a wink/nod that it’s OK to move contraband with a black driver because they can’t search your car.
So go right ahead, run the course on yet another inflamed perceived injustice and go over the top to right a wrong. Then we can create more rules once we see it’s not working. And then a few more regulations after that.
1. Drive awhile in Detroit.
2. Tell me why this is news?
The larger issue is that cops everywhere regularly abuse their authority.
I guess any person (white or black) doesn’t need to worry about being searched unless they have contraband, right? That tells me everything about the people whining about being searched and why they are worried.
It’s the same as with those statistics that blacks are more likely to be in prison. However, the individual in prison most likely committed the crime. Maybe unfair that someone else who is white has an easier time to get away with a crime, but the person imprisoned still committed one.
Do the statistics say how many of the pulled-over cars had expired registrations, no insurance, looked like in unsafe condition and were pulled over because of that in the first place?
Glaring ommission here:
Are these two WV counties where more non-whites are stopped, searched etc. populated by more non-whites. The law of averages suggests more black people will be stopped in an area where they make up the bulk of the population.
Like GS650G said, bascially anybody can spin stats to bolster their opinion.
This is news? *yawn*
Tell me something I don’t know!
“The larger issue is that cops everywhere regularly abuse their authority.”
EXACTLY…therefore, people with an obviously discriminatory or violent mindset (White, Black or Hispanic,etc) should NOT BE ALLOWED TO KEEP THEIR JOB or be a Cop at all.
The larger issue is that cops everywhere regularly abuse their authority
And it’s only gotten worse in recent years. The advent of the taser certainly didn’t help. Did anyone else hear about the tasering of a 75-year old great grandmother, for God’s sake?
Well
Myself being black/hispanic middle class/middle age individual who has never been in trouble with the law my whole life(no speeding tickets,no record), I have just learned to live with being pulled over/searched more at airports/ followed around stores etc more than my white co-workers/neighbors/friends.
It is now a joke among my white friends how I work twice as hard not to get in trouble with the law but still get questioned/pulled over/searched about 5 times more than of them combined.
Law inforcement still view a minority who drive a nice vehicle(mine is a no-bling suv) as possibly being a drug dealer/stole it/something to hide.
We have come a long way in this country but still have along way to go.
In Detroit, Michigan blacks are arrested for murder about 99 times more often than whites.
Um…I think that would be because the CITY of Detroit is almost 90% black. Now, if you are talking about the suburbs, then ok.
bluecon : “In Detroit, Michigan blacks are arrested for murder about 99 times more often than whites.”
And how many of those 99 times are they innocent?
The headline is questionable, and may be bogus depending upon how you read the results. The data shows that if you are a white male in your 20s you are much more likely to be stopped. The data does not control for the actual severity of the violation, as far as I could tell from my casual reading. For those of you who did not read the report (but only the summary…ahem…), just to keep things in perspective:
Statewide the majority of drivers stopped by law enforcement were white (93.8%). Black drivers accounted for just 4.3% of stops. Less than 2.0% of all drivers were of some other race.
Nearly ninety percent of searches involved white drivers (87.3) while slightly less than ten percent were comprised of black (9.8%) and Hispanic drivers (2.2%).
In 53.6 % of all searches, no contraband was found. (meaning that in 46.4% of stops contraband was found)
Once stopped, only 4.6% of all accepted stops resulted in some type of search.
The majority of the drivers involved in these stops were male (63.7%).
The average age of drivers involved in these traffic stops was 36 while the most frequently reported age was 20.
If even an affirmative-action Harvard professor feels entitled to mouth off after breaking into a house (he rented it but did his license have his current address on it?), I have no doubt that attitude plays a major part in the search rates.
It’s also harder to visually inspect somebody when their clothes are so baggy; I doubt the study took that into account.
Anyone and everyone is entitled to mouth-off to a cop. You can say anything you want to them short of threatening physical violence, and it’s perfectly legal. It’s called the First Amendment. If you’re so thin skinned that you can’t take that, you shouldn’t be a cop in the first place.
It is against the law in most states to arrest a person for Disorderly Conduct in their own home – unless they are blasting music which can be heard outside of the home.
But I guess blacks still count as 3/5 persons in America, despite the 14th amendment.
Do a Google search and read the Massachusetts General Laws chapter 272: Section 53. It is clear that the arrest would never have held up in court. This was harassment, pure and simple.
This reminds me how the Chief of Saint Louis virtually cried after some black guy was shot: “We’ll be MORE THAN HAPPY to shoot some whiteys, but they just don’t attack our officers! What can we do?!” What this statistic does not tell is what these stopped drivers were doing on the road before being stopped.
The question should be whether consistent and clear guidelines for searches exist and if they are followed. If a group tends to violates those guidelines (on probation? / under the influence? / smell of hippy-lettuce burning?) more than others, they’ll get searched more.
I’m not a fan of most car searches for the average pullover. Long ago, I told Maryland trooper “no” when he asked to look in my trunk – and I got an earful and had to wait on the roadside for another 45 minutes while he ‘tried’ to get a warrant. He let me go, but my 68 in a 55 became 78.
BDB:
Anyone and everyone is entitled to mouth-off to a cop. You can say anything you want to them short of threatening physical violence, and it’s perfectly legal.
True. It’s legal. But you still may meet Mr Handcuff.
True-blue Cambridge proves that “DisCon” is THE tool for fools who need to “Spend the Night In Jail Without a Trial”. And good luck with any tort claim of ‘unlawful arrest’ – at least in small town USA. Although I’m sure the guilt-ridden government of Cambridge will pay Professor Gates handsomely.
I know there are a lot of people who don’t want to believe that cops everywhere pull over black people more often just because they are black. Let me tell you, the only way you can know whether or not its true is to experience it first hand. Drive around in a car with a black driver and passengers and see the difference, not only in getting pulled over for no reason, but in the tone and attitude the cop takes with the driver. DWB is real and denying it is about as ignorant as you can get. It’s easy not to believe it, nobody wants to believe such injustice takes place here, but it does and if you bothered to do some real research of your own, you would realize how disgusting a problem it is.
BDB : Anyone and everyone is entitled to mouth-off to a cop. You can say anything you want to them short of threatening physical violence, and it’s perfectly legal.
This view underscores the deterioration of our civil society. The irony of this view is that while the argument is supported by an appeal to the letter of the law, it shows an utter contempt for the spirit of law (inasmuch as police are empowered to enforce the law).
Getting back to the dubious “findings” of the article, it is impossible to parse the results unless one knows much more than the survey measures. It presumes that all the stops were for equivalent severity offenses, and says nothing about the actual circumstances surrounding the stops. It merely reports rates of stops loosely correlated with race, and unless one knows the demographics of the areas of the stops one cannot make a good judgment. For instance, stops in a known crack neighborhood will turn out differently than stops in a mostly upper middle class environment.
These kinds of studies are mostly political in nature, and should therefore be suspect.
True. It’s legal. But you still may meet Mr Handcuff.
The fact that this is a matter of course now is f*cked up. I’d rather not live in place like Singapore.
The view underscores the deterioration of our civil society.
Appealing to freedom of speech against an agent of the state undermines the deterioration of our society, but great grandmas and 6-year old girls getting tasered doesn’t. Also, an agent of the state with a gun, taser, and nightstick should be able to arrest someone and put them in jail just because his feelings got hurt.
Ok, d00d. Keep kissing those jackboots.
I think when you get pulled over you better 100% cooperate with the cop or they will be suspicious. Obviously they are humans too and if you yell at them, or just refuse to cooperate, why would they do you a favor?
If you want to be the big rebel when you the police stop you, be their guest. But being nice and cooperative will get you further. Maybe they let you get away with a warning instead of a ticket or so. It is their job to find gangsters and protect themselves. anyone with an attitude is a potential threat.
It is sad that you might get pulled over more often when you belong to a certain group. But if you don’t have anything on you, so what? Except it would waste my time I wouldn’t mind being pulled over (unless to have to pay for a ticket:-) and show them my trunk. Of course, I can have a bad attitude etc., but you better have a good attitude if pulled over, no matter what.
dolo54:
DWB is real and denying it is about as ignorant as you can get.
Often, the least professional police departments with the worst governance resort to DWB tactics. Sadly, most such departments are large cities.
David Simon, creator of HBO’s “The Wire”, has written about DWB . He accused the (then Mayor of Baltimore) and now Governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley, of targeting blacks to get the crime rate down to aid his campaign for governor.
Being black I can tell you why we get pulled over, followed, and checked out. We commit most of the crime, and when you take into account we are only 15% of the population the disparity is much greater. I have heard my share of “uncle Tom” because I studied, talk like a human, and tell the punks in my neighborhood when they are doing wrong. Some listen, some want to be “gangstas”. They will eventually end up in jail. I live in a white neighborhood and am accepted by them, and invited to a cookout every week. Because I’m black? No, because I act just like they do. You cant hear my car stereo from 3 blocks away, my clothes fit, I dont stare anyone down, I did not jump for joy when O.J. got off (crime is crime). I see the last dozen police officers in my closest city of Philly killed by black men and it burns my ass. They also wonder why they are treated differently. The thug mentality says shoot it out with the cops and you are a hood hero. Its wrong and it has to stop. Look at the dropout rate in detroit and you will see what I mean. I dont like being pulled over period, but I accept it and understand it is their job. I personally know black cops who “want to get even with whitey”. I ask them if thats why they joined the police academy. We have bigger things to worry about, like our childrens future. Which they wont have if our politicians (black, white, republican or democrat)keep giving away our hard earned tax money. Wake up people! Teach your children right and wrong, and who gets pulled over and why wont be an issue.
“Being black I can tell you why we get pulled over, followed, and checked out. We commit most of the crime,…”
Of course, if this statistic were true, you would not be posting here. Criminals don’t have the time to post, right?
Your particular personality traits aren’t as rare or unique among the brown-skinned in America. If you haven’t used your skills to learn that by now, you’re in for a very rough life. Criminality isn’t limited by race, y’know.
I havent had a rough life, I have had a fair life. I reaped what I sowed. I pulled myself up by my bootstraps at an early age and didnt make excuses for myself. I did the best I could, but while life wasnt always fair,I didnt fall for the self pity trap. Several of my playmates are serving life for murder. They made the choice, not some white man. Criminality definitely isnt limited by race, witness the people running our country into the ground. Just dont tell me what I saw for 30 some years isnt true. I was born and raised in camden NJ and have no plans to go back. And not because of caucasion people, but my own. Theres good and bad in everything but to deny the obvious becaus we want to be politically correct is moronic. By the way damonk I have no police record for a good reason,so I guess I’m NOT a criminal.
In my experience, DWLG (Driving While Lime Green) makes you more of a cop magnet than being African-American. I’ve been tailed by cops for miles and pulled over twice for not speeding.
Let me tell you, the only way you can know whether or not its true is to experience it first hand. Drive around in a car with a black driver and passengers and see the difference, not only in getting pulled over for no reason, but in the tone and attitude the cop takes with the driver.
It’s true that the majority of people who don’t think this is a problem don’t have a “black friend”.
—
What’s really hilarious, and by hilarious I mean sickeningly hypocritical, about this topic is that the same folks who are supposed to be for personal freedom from the authorities are justifying jackboot thug behavior from their government. So apparently they the state off their ass, but they do want it on others.
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I was born and raised in camden NJ and have no plans to go back. And not because of caucasion people, but my own.
The problems within the black community in the US are well documented. As a matter of historical fact, no group ever prospers within that circle of violence/incarceration.
The kind of discriminatory effect noted here is part of the systematic problem that results in the culture that devastates a significant part of our population. You either give a shit, or you don’t. But if you do, realize this is part of the problem.
The only time I was every pulled over was at 2am in Evanston, IL.
The cop was hiding in an alley & I made a right on red that there was NO WAY he could have seen. To top it off, at the time, the “no turn on red” sign was about 10’+ behind the white line. I had stopped completely at the red light, looked for a no turn on red sign, asked a buddy if he saw a no turn on red sign (by this time 5-6 seconds had elapsed) and we turned.
Just for the record, I am white, and the officer was black.
He stopped us for about 20 min, ran our plate, sat in the car a while, finally came back and gave us a “warning”. Of course I co-operated fully, had a proper registration & proved insurance and answered his questions “yes sir” or “no sir”. That was the end of it.
I suppose I could have caused a media circus like Gates and had myself (& maybe my buddy) arrested, but ah well…
Driving while white…a crime yet to be exposed by the media!
I suppose I could have caused a media circus like Gates and had myself (& maybe my buddy) arrested, but ah well…
Driving while white…a crime yet to be exposed by the media!
I hope some the of commentors above are consistent and come to question the suspicious circumstances of the incident since you must’ve been doing something to deserve the eye of the righteous law. In any case, it might’ve been more convenient for all involved if the officer was also white because then your suspicious nature would’ve been better understood.
Speaking of the Gates incident, one of the most hilarious parts is that Crowley wrote that he was told two black males are breaking and entering despite no such info about race in the 911 call and statement by caller (and some dubious certainty on forced entry). It’s like something straight out of a sketch comedy show.
What’s really hilarious, and by hilarious I mean sickeningly hypocritical, about this topic is that the same folks who are supposed to be for personal freedom from the authorities are justifying jackboot thug behavior from their government. So apparently they the state off their ass, but they do want it on others.
Agenthex, to them raising the top marginal tax rate to 39% is slavery/Communism/Fascism/Islam, but tasering 6 year old girls? Arresting somebody in their own home for the “crime” of hurting a cop’s feelings? That’s just well and good!
No disrespect to seabrjim, but I bet he has yet to experience being pulled over by a cop who wants to satiate his ego by cowing and intimidating someone into “respecting” him. And heaven forbid you happen to be a young man of color….every single stereotype gleaned from the newsreels and TV shows come into play. Since you happen to be a part of that 15%, you’re treated as a criminal first and a citizen and human being second.
It’s why I strive to have little to no business or interactions with law enforcement unless absolutely necessary. I won’t give them a reason to stop, profile and pull a DWB.
No disrespect taken my friend. I have been pulled over. What makes me even angrier is the crime in black areas, and black on black crime which no one can hype (I’m looking at you rev. Al) to their advantage. There is a reason we refer to “bad areas” without saying black neighborhoods. This is a problem only we can fix. Dont ask me, ask Bill Cosby or Walter Williams. They are no more self hating than am I. We need to stop pointing the finger, because the sooner we do, the sooner we are accepted. Most of my old neighbors, I wouldn’t want living next to me now. Am I a racist for pointing out my own? Years ago when I looked at federal crime statistics online I was aghast at what a small percentage of the population was committing most of the violent crime in our country. Embarassed was more like it. We need more couragous mentors in the black neighborhoods who arent afraid to stand up and say what needs to be said.
Don’t get me wrong I am not a racist simply an observer. In the Toronto Canada area persons of color are involved in the majority of violent crime involving guns and knives as reported by the media. Our law enforcement agencies are restricted from keeping statistics by race so we have no statistical data.
My friend who is a recently retired Tampa police officer told me an interesting story. He told me this story 20 years ago. He was off duty in civilian clothes driving his personal car late at night in Tampa. He stopped at a 7-11 made a purchase and left. When he pulled out of the 7-11 a police car turned on its lights and pulled him over. He asked what was wrong and was told he had made an illegal turn by driving though the parking lot of the 7-11 from the side street. The officer then began to write my friend a ticket. My friend protested that he done no such thing, that in fact he had gone and parked in the 7-11 purchased an item and was in the process of leaving the parking lot and that he had not made an illegal turn through the parking lot. The officer responded that it was his word against my friend and that he was a cop and that the judge would believe the cop. My friend then proceeded to flash his badge with the admonition so am I. The arresting officer then let my friend go. My friend and the arresting officer were both white BTW
There is something about this profession that attracts a–holes. I have met my friends coworkers on several occasions and invariably a high percentage of them were obvious a–holes always itching to get into some kind of confrontation. My friend by contrast is a soft spoken non confrontational man who never cursed. (I grew up knowing him from grade school). At least my friend had some kind of karma or guardian angel because he drew daylight hours in the very best part of town in his rookie years. He actually would stop by my store and hang out waiting for calls which invariably almost never came. Later he went on and worked with school kids for the majority of his career. My friend could have been a poster child or model for the One adam twelve type polite professional police officer but far too many of his friends and co workers were not.
Thanx to seabrjim…
I truly appreciate someone that has the guts to tell the truth. When it comes to people, there are only two types… assholes, and the rest of us. Color, nationality, race, wealth, doesn’t make any difference. You still have those same two groups.
There are assholes on the police force, assholes in public office, assholes in big city slums, and everything in between. What’s really interesting is seeing how someone stating the truth will cause an immediate uproar by the assholes.
There is something about this profession that attracts a–holes.
To be fair, it’s a self-selective systematic problem not unlike that for some minority groups.
As I’ve mentioned before, the police would do well for themselves if they got out of the business of enforcing podunk traffic rules. It creates an aura of antagonism between them and the populace over insignificant revenue collection.
It’s a general problem, not unlike UAW v Management (or any poor group dynamics like Israel vs Palestine) where nobody wins. But the changes need to come from the party with the authority to change.
I know several ER nurses and unanimously when a patient has an extraordinarily tiny, laughably-small penis, his stated occupation is inevitably that of a cop. Additionally, an abnormally low IQ is not a mandatory requirement to be a cop as urban legend has it, but it certainly doesn’t hurt either.
Added together, these two traits funnel overcompensating, literal-minded authoritarian types into law-enforcement. Like my doctor said just last week, after he graduated from high school, all of the class bullies became cops.
seabrjim: “Theres good and bad in everything but to deny the obvious becaus we want to be politically correct is moronic. By the way damonk I have no police record for a good reason,so I guess I’m NOT a criminal.”
I’ve never met anyone who held beliefs that would lead to him or her wanting to to BE stopped by the cops beause of what your peers have done, or actively ignored everyone else who looks like you and HASN’T become a criminal. It just doesn’t fit.
What doesnt fit? I dont want to be stopped and inconvenienced any more than you? Are you african american? I understand because of the actions of my peers this may be the case with me being pulled over. The only time a cop asked to search my car, he was black just like me! And very accusatory and rude to boot. I have no hate in me. Being bitter only ruins my day. Not theirs.
seabrjim :
I question whether you are actually black as you seem to take a simplistic approach to real problems in the black community. If you were black you would understand that the current “gangsta” rap movement in hiphop has nothing to do with black culture or even the pioneer spirit of the genre. Whites will never see being harassed for skin color a problem until it happens to them. Most are so afraid of the thought of “white guilt” blah blah they cant pull their head out of their respective asses to stand up and say this is wrong and we should do something about it as fellow Americans. Ask any white person and they will tell you they know someone that are racist but they consider it ok or just a isolated issue. These associates, friends, or family members have jobs and dont think they contain their hatred. Oh BTW please kill that sooner we are accepted crap. The idea of the “magic negro” ends here. The Hollywood formula of savage, ignorant, and totally simple minded blacks having to prove themselves to the noble and superior white man ends here. Should anyone ever want to have a realistic conversation about race in America look me up. Otherwise keep reading and watching the nonsense you see and hear for the “black” experience.
carlos.negros: It is against the law in most states to arrest a person for Disorderly Conduct in their own home – unless they are blasting music which can be heard outside of the home.
If there is an active police investigation occurring at the scene – which there was in the Gates case – and someone is harassing the responding police officer, he or she can be arrested, even if he or she is the legal occupant of the dwelling.
BDB: Arresting somebody in their own home for the “crime” of hurting a cop’s feelings? That’s just well and good!
Officer Crowley didn’t arrest Professor Gates because he had hurt his feelings.
He arrested Professor Gates because he was screaming at him while he was trying to ascertain that, one, a break-in was not occurring, and, two, Professor Gates had a lawful reason to be there, and, three, that there wasn’t a second person hidden in the house holding a gun on Professor Gates (that is why Officer Crowley wanted him to come out on to the porch – this is standard operating procedure). He was interfering with a police investigation and acting as though he is a few bricks short of a full load.
Remember that Officer Crowely responded to a call that TWO men were attempting to break into a house (phoned in by Gates’ neighbor – I doubt that many closet Ku Klux Klan members are living in Cambridge, Massachusetts).
Professor Gates began yelling at the officer and turned what should have been a rountine investigatory conversation into a fiasco. Anyone who thinks that a white person wouldn’t be arrested for doing the same thing is living in a fantasy world.
Of course, if the officer had merely knocked on the door, asked if Professor Gates were okay, and it turned out that he wasn’t, and was later found shot to death by an intruder, this would be further proof that racist cops don’t take the lives of African-American men seriously. The people squawking about racist cops would be wailing that the cops didn’t “do more” to save him.
Oh goody. Another freedom loving winger to defend the virtue of harassment by petty authoritarians.
It’s funny because the arrest report was in several places contradicted by the very person who made the call (and the 911 tapes), but you can always be certain the party a winger is going to automatically trust in these sorts of cases (often without even reading the details, you know, like the report itself).
I mean, “police investigation”, OMG LOL. The neighbor told the cop the “intruder” may very well live there, the officer was given two pieces of photo ID, admitted to properly identifying Gates early on IN HIS OWN REPORT before gates got uppity and was taught a lesson. But you gotta give it to the winger to start making shit up outside of all facts in the case.
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(that is why Officer Crowley wanted him to come out on to the porch – this is standard operating procedure).
Actually, the reason why is because he wanted gates to be in a “public” place to justify the arrest. It’s a well known strategy which is why it’s good advice NOT to “step outside” when you think the cop is trying to screw with you, not unlike when they try to trick you to give permission to get in without a warrant.
In any case, the “justification” was still contradicted by Mass. case law, which is why the charge won’t ever go anywhere and got dropped.
Just got home from work. Self employed I might add. Whitey didnt hold my ass back.I looked in the mirror, and yes I am still dark skinned. Apparently an uncle tom too!
agenthex: Oh goody. Another freedom loving winger to defend the virtue of harassment by petty authoritarians.
As opposed to another poster attempting to turn this into a civil rights violation, because he is ignorant of the proper procedure to be followed in this type of case.
agenthex: It’s funny because the arrest report was in several places contradicted by the very person who made the call (and the 911 tapes),
It’s a good idea to actually read the report and read the words on the page, not what one wants to see.
The officer initially asked Professor Gates to come to the porch to ascertain who he was, thus enabling him to determine whether he was legally entitled to be in the residence, or if he was in any immediate danger (from someone else hidden in the house with a gun). Gates was already in the foyer of the house before Officer Crowley arrived on the scene. The officer saw him through the glass panes of the front door.
It was Gates who immediately refused to leave the house and began accusing the officer of racism.
agenthex: I mean, “police investigation”, OMG LOL.
They were investigating a potential burglary, called in by a neighbor. That is the definition of a police investigation, at least to those of us who understand such things.
If you get your knowledge of police work from network television, please note that police investigations aren’t limited to cases where there is a corpse or a million-dollar robbery. Generally, police calls involve far more mundane matters – such as this one.
agenthex: The neighbor told the cop the “intruder” may very well live there, the officer was given two pieces of photo ID, admitted to properly identifying Gates early on IN HIS OWN REPORT before gates got uppity and was taught a lesson. But you gotta give it to the winger to start making shit up outside of all facts in the case.
Wrong. Professor Gates began yellling at the officer and accusing him of racism BEFORE he provided identification.
The officer said that he was “led to believe” that Gates was lawfully in the residence, that is not the same thing as being completely sure. (And Professor Gates was yelling at him and hurling bogus and silly accusations of racism before that.) Professor Gates initially refused to provide identification, and demanded to see the officer’s idenfication.
My suggestion is that you refrain from throwing around the acccusations of fabrication, as you are guilty of it yourself. Projecting, perhaps…?
agenthex: Actually, the reason why is because he wanted gates to be in a “public” place to justify the arrest. It’s a well known strategy which is why it’s good advice NOT to “step outside” when you think the cop is trying to screw with you, not unlike when they try to trick you to give permission to get in without a warrant.
When a police officer is investigating a call such as this, the procedure is to have the person answering the door step outside to make sure that no one is holding a gun on the person. If the person is doing nothing wrong, there is no reason to worry about an arrest.
The simple fact is that even in the kindest version, Professor Gates comes across as the north end of a south-bound horse, which is probably why he quickly shut up in the ensuing ruckus.
Since you don’t seem to be big on intellectual honesty and will probably just go away hoping no one notices the winger tendencies, here’s the report for anyone interested :
http://www.scribd.com/doc/17512830/Gates-Police-Report
Notice it’s typical CYA police work.