Stranger at the Gates

Oh, wait. It's my own house!

The incident involving Professor Gates and an over-zealous police officer has garnered a lot of attention. I am highly critical of the arresting officer. This is not in any way a defense of Gates. This is a situation where there is plenty of wrong to go around.

We will never know exactly what transpired between the two. Both were heated, and probably fatigued when the incident took place. In the high emotional charge, I'm sure they have very different recollections.

But there are degrees of wrong. Being unreasonable, belligerent and offensive are not crimes. Insulting a policeman who is inside your home is not a crime.

For a cop to arrest somebody because he pissed him off is an inexcusable breach of authority by someone who's motto is "To protect and to serve." Remember - they work for us!

Urbino nails it.

The dropping of the charges is a near-certain indication that the cop was wrong. The intransigence of the officer, and the victimized stance of the police union in the wake of Obama's comment do nothing to change my view.

The Boston Globe had the police report up on their web site, but then took it down. An excerpt can be found here.

Update: I want to draw attention to a conservative (probably libertarian) take on this. As the commenter goes off topic and draws broader conclusions, he loses his way, in my opinion. But that's because I'm a progressive!