Henry Louis Gates Jr Arrest Report and 911 Tape: Analysis
July 31, 2009 by Desiree Washington
Filed under News, Opinion, Politics
A copy of the Cambridge Police Department’s Incident Report prepared by Officer James Crowley in the arrest of Harvard professor Henry L. Gates, Jr as been made public. A review of the report, compared with the contents of the newly released 911 tape reveals that Officer Crowley misrepresented events described to him by the 911 caller. 
Officer Crowley originally reported that he arrested Gates after responding to a 911 call alleging that two black men with backpacks forcibly entered a residence. See paragraph 3, line 6 of the Report: Henry Gates Arrest Report Since the 911 audio tape has been released, it is now apparent that Officer Crowley’s “Narrative” contains false statements of important facts.
The audio tape reveals that the 911 caller couldn’t tell the race of the two persons she described as two “gentlemen” entering the home (2:14 sec). The tape also reveals that the 911 caller described two men as having suitcases (0.59 sec) rather than backpacks. Take a listen:
The difference between Crowley’s Narrative and the 911 audiotape is striking. It suggests that Crowley heard what he wanted to hear, or reported what he thought would be most compelling, to justify his arrest of Professor Gates. Crowley heard “backpacks” rather than “suitcases,” indicating that Crowley saw, and wanted others to see, Gates as a hoodlum to justify the arrest. Crowley heard “black males” rather than “gentlemen” for the same reason: to cast Gates as an undesirable to create probable cause to justify the arrest.
We want to give Officer Crowley the benefit of doubt because he is a peace officer and has taken an oath to serve and protect the public. But given his indignation at Gate’s request for an apology for wrongly arresting the Professor, and given what clearly looks like attempts to “cover his ass,” it becomes easy to view Crowley’s false statements as wholly planned and intentional. Moreover, it becomes easy to see his arresting Gates as racially motivated.
Where the 911 caller cannot identify the men, but thinks one might be Hispanic, Crowley fills in the blanks with “black males” rather than leaving their racial descriptions blank. Interestingly, Crowley also makes a point of describing the race of the 911 caller in his Narrative. He describes her as a “white female” rather than simply female. Many will argue that these racial descriptions are standard protocol for policemen, useful in identifying people. But the descriptions are irrelevant in the case of identifying the 911 caller, and false in the case of describing what the 911 caller said the two “gentlemen” looked like. These racial descriptions are gratuitous and coded to mean “the suspects are of a class and race that reasonable people of ordinary intelligence would view with suspicion under the circumstances.
Crowley’s conduct here underscores a bigger problem: as a nation, we have allowed our police officers to believe they are above-the-law. We ignore their civil rights violations in instances involving minorities, the poor and persons whose viewpoints we might disagree with. We justify our indifference by arguing that the policeman’s job is difficult, dangerous or stressful, when in fact, these officers are hired because they are supposed to able to function very well under such conditions. Excusing their behavior each time they overstep merely emboldens and empowers officers to repeat that bad conduct over and over in communities whose civil rights these officers are supposed to protect.
President Obama has graciously meet with Crowley and Gates at the White House to settle this issue over a few beers. We had hoped that Crowley would walk away from this incident with greater understanding and ownership of his own misconduct. Instead, reports indicate that Crowley still thinks his behavior was justified. He left the White House ‘beer summit’ casting this civil rights dispute as one between “two gentlemen who agreed to disagree,” according to the Associated Press.
The people should not fear civil rights violations perpetrated by officers sworn to protect those rights. Given Crowley’s defiant position, and given the history of institutionalized abuse of minorities’ civil rights by police, it has become imperative that the people contact the Cambridge Police Department and demand a public apology from Crowley for falsely arresting Gates and fabricating facts in his police report Narrative.
The Cambridge Police Department’s main contact telephone number is 617-349-3300. Community Relations can be reached at 617-349-3236. The Commissioner’s Office is reachable at 617-349-3378, and the Professional Standards Office may be contacted at 617-349-3355. Call today and demand a public apology.
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In response to “Henry Louis Gates Jr Arrest Report and 911 Tape: Analysis”
It seems as though this analysis is confused, rather than the police officer. The police officer was not quoting the 911 call in his report. He was quoting the 911 CALLER. Meaning, the conversation that transpired between him and the woman caller, when he arrived at the scene. The truth of the matter is that she said one thing to 911, and another thing to the officer. Blame her, not the officer. The officer was doing his job, and was obviously met with an irate Gates at the door. If Gates had acted like a normal human being, rather than yelling and acting the fool, this whole thing could have been avoided.
One day I was working on a Saturday by myself. The alarm had a fault in it, and the police came out to investigate. When they arrived, they asked me who I was, and for identification. I also had to contact a superior and have them speak to him, to make sure I belonged on the property. I respected and understood all of their requests, and fully complied – with no incident. NOW, had I started acting out stupidly and yelling, I’m sure I would have been arrested. Moral? Stupid is as stupid does.
Even if Gates was yelling at the police man, yelling is not a crime. He was in his home and it was during normal hours so it wasn’t causing a public disturbance. The police can’t just arrest you because they don’t like what you’re doing, it has to be against the law. No one is entitled to that much unchecked power.
It’s my understanding that Officer Crowley barely spoke with the 911 caller once he arrived at the scene, so he could not and did not refer to any statements made by her “at the scene” in his Narrative when he described Professor Gates and his companion as being two black males with backpacks. Crowley appears to be the one at fault here, not the 911 caller.
As for Gate’s conduct, I find it hard to believe anything Crowley says at this point, given the inconsistencies in his Narrative and the 911 tape. I doubt Gates acted in the manner Crowley described. But even if he had, his arrest would not be justified. There is no law that bars a citizen from requesting a policeman’s badge number. Crowley abused his position of authority in arresting Gates. Simple.
After reading your response, it is quite clear to me that you didn’t read the incident report. It clearly states that when he arrived, he spoke with the 911 caller, and she gave him the description of the two men. It’s all right there. As for Gate’s conduct – other people observed his crazy behavior. The officer was investigating a 911 call. Of course he’s going to ask questions to the man that answers the door of the residence in question. If Gate’s had been rational and stopped dishing out the race card, and instead offered his identification, the officer would have been able to move on to other questions. Such as: Are you OK? Is there anyone else in the house? Are you aware of any attempt to break into your residence, etc…
While Crowley’s report may state that he spoke with the 911 caller at the scene of the “crime,” at which time he alleges he obtained descriptions of two black men with backpacks from the caller, the 911 tape clearly shows that the caller does not know what ethnicity the two men are. Also, in subsequent statements, the 911 caller insists she never told Crowley that they were two black men with backpacks.
“Though her lawyer Wendy Murphy (who appears first on the video) wouldn’t let her talk about discrepancies in the police report, Whalen was clear that she hadn’t spoken to Crowley and also hadn’t said anything about the possible break-in suspects being African-American. The report said she told him about “observing what appeared to be two black males with backpacks.”” Wall Street Journal
The question becomes: “which version of the facts is right?” Police investigating a crime don’t usually go to the 911 caller’s house before investigating a crime in action. Moreover, the 911 caller has no motive to lie, but Crowley does: he needs to “cover his ass.”
As a society, we find it hard to believe that people in whom we bestow power and authority could abuse that power. We would rather believe that the victims are in the wrong. We want to blame the 911 caller and Professor Gates for Officer Crowley’s behavior. But this is one clear instance where the policeman screwed up. He appears to have lured Gates out of his home and onto his porch so that he could arrest Gates, falsify a police report, and gain sympathy from onlookers who were unaware of what was transpiring between the two men. Seems like intentional misconduct.
According to Crowley’s report, the woman at the scene told him she “was the one who called and that she had seen 2 Black men with backpacks…”
1. Why did the woman tell Crowley something different than what she told the dispatcher, if Crowley is correct in his interpretation of the woman’s words?
2. If the 2 suspects had been white men with suitcases, would the caller have made the call?
3. Where is Officer Lashley, the Black officer who claims he is wrongly being labeled an “Uncle Tom” for standing up for Officer Crowley?
Crowley’s report conveys that he “arrived at the scene by himself,” and that he instructed the caller to wait until other officers arrived while he investigated further.
Obviously, Lashly was NOT at the scene when Crowley initially confronted Dr. Gates.
So how can Lashly claim that “Crowley acted properly in his handling of the situation?
Once Dr. Gates provided identification, why didn’t Crowley simply state, “I’m sorry, sir. Obviously, a serious mistake has been made. I apologize. I can understand your anger at having to provide identification in your own home. I’m sorry.”
And then he should have walked away and left.
fowler: If Gates had acted like a normal human being, rather than yelling and acting the fool, this whole thing could have been avoided.
JL: What is a “normal human being?”
Such a creature doesn’t exist…..because of cultures.
Since Officer Crowley trained other officers about “racial sensitivity,” he should have known that different groups of people have differing communication styles and behaviors.
Fowler makes the mistake of assuming that “there is a normal type of behavior that all humans know about.”
If such an assumption was valid, then there’d be no need for “racial sensitivity” training.
Just wow….
You’re telling me that a Harvard Professor <- read that again please; has a "communication style" of yelling, insulting and calling police officers racist, upon valid questioning?!? And this is OK with you? What would you think if the President had a "communication style" of yelling at our allies, insulting them and said F it, I'm dropping a bomb on everybody? That behavior would certainly not be accepted or tolerated, so why defend Gates for freaking out on a public servant that was simply responding to a neighbor's concern? That is his job.
When I refer to being a "normal human being", I'm talking about being respectful of others, and the rules that govern our society. I happen to believe that a Harvard Professor who had never been "in the system" before, would act more "normal" than say, a teen, who has committed multiple crimes and has been conditioned to hate any authority figure.
Gates should be thankful that his neighbor was concerned, and called 911. He even stated that he had a previous break-in, and couldn't secure his door! I'm sure his neighbor was on high alert when seeing shadowy figures appear to be breaking in, considering it happened before. I have no doubt that after calling 911, she called someone else to feel safe until the police arrived. When they showed up, she cracks open the door, with wireless phone in hand, and says, "I'm the person that called". Can you not see this happening? I would have done the same thing, as I'm sure many others would.
I'm also willing to bet that after all of the hoopla, she's a little embarrassed. After seeing Gates' reaction to the police, can you see how she may deny certain statements for fear that he may hold a grudge against her? Why do you think she has, or needs, a lawyer for example?
Rather than greet the police respectfully, he chose to deal out the race card, threaten with "you don't know who you're dealing with", "I'll talk to your Mama outside", etc… I'm sorry if you don't agree that's inappropriate behavior. I believe he felt that because he was a Harvard Professor with high connections, he felt he was somehow above the law. It saddens me that some people find this to be acceptable behavior.
In looking at the totality of the circumstances, and the various bits of information presented by the 911 Caller and Officer Crowley’s narrative, it is clear that Officer Crowley initially acted in a heavy-handed manner that would offend any citizen fully aware of his/her civil rights. Gates violated no laws, and therefore we need not concern ourselves with his behavior. Officer Crowley, on the other hand, is an authority figure and has taken an oath to protect the people’s civil rights. He failed in honoring that oath when he lured Gates out of his house to arrest him on what appears to be false charges. He failed in honoring that oath when he seemingly fabricated the Incident Report Narrative to justify Gates’ arrest.