Guys I think we can talk about this topic and still be civil about it. It's an amazing story too.

My view on this.., is I'M ON THE SIDE OF THE POLICE OFFICERS and their Department. There is ONE VERY important factor in this entire situation that IS NOT being addressed too. I feel terrible for what happened to this poor guy. It's an awful thing to be on your own property and have to prove it's your house to the Police. I've been there myself I can relate to the guy on this... I'm African American and I've had cops called to my house IN BROAD DAYLIGHT because Police got a call that a man (who looks middle-eastern) looked suspicious going in and out of a backyard shed. Here I own the property AND the shed and have for several years and gotta now prove to the Police who simply responded to a call..., that I own it and that's it's ok for me to use my own shed.

Well that leads me to the REAL PROBLEM in this case. It's NOT the Police. It's ignorant, paranoid citizens that USE their local Police Departments to get to their neighbors by using RACISM. We live in a very SCREWED up society. People use their local Police to racial descriminate against their neighbors ALL THE TIME.

I feel just as bad for the Police in this case as I do the guy who got arrested. The Police did NOTHING but respond to a call! What's being left out is the parnoid caller who made the freaking call in the first place that resulted in this HUGE mess. Did the guy get vocal.., hell yeah he did.., and rightfully so.., honestly who wouldn't get a little vocal in this type of situation. He probably did go a little overboard with it too. These officers took a good verbal lashing before they arrested the guy...

This poor Police Officer is now having his career destroyed and tainted by this case. It's so unfair to this guy too. This man was hand selected (by another guy who was African American) to teach POLICE officers a course on RACIAL PROFILING. This man teaches officers NOT to profile and is considered an EXPERT in the area.

Police Dept's get their images destroyed when they respond to these types of calls. It puts them in a very tough position too...

Yet the media will not address the REAL issue here and will continue to use RACE IN AMERICA to boost ratings. While at the same time destroying the reputation of GOOD Police Officers and ruining the image of their Department.

If you guys remember..., when this story first broke and the media reported on it.., the Police responded to a call that "Two Black Men" were trying to break into a house. Racist neighbors do this crap ALL the time. People know the "trigger words" to use when they make these calls. It's VERY common today (not always shared with the public) that citizens will call the Police to report something and in an attempt to get them to respond quicker will say it involves "black men". It's disgusting, sad, but true and happens EVERY day.

This story needs to turn around and focus on the PARANOID and ignorant neighbor who made this BS phone call and caused this entire mess.

I hope this officer doesn't have his career destroyed over this too. Police Departments are put in this uncomfortable position every day because of racist callers.

**just to add.., did you guys look at the images of Gates in custody???? Take note of whether the sun was up or down. Ask yourself this question.., isn't it odd the concerned caller couldn't identify his own neighbor...? Look at the location of the houses too. There's a 95% chance the call came from somoeone who had a clear view of Gate's porch--which would mean there's a high probability that the call originated from the OTHER side of the street. Why aren't they looking more into the neighbor who was so eager to be interviewed in this who stated Gates got verbally abusive with the Police??? He just might have been the person who made the call.

When this happened to me.., it turned out to be a guy down the street (whos familiy is known to have racial issues). When Police arrived a crowed gathered.., this guy wandered up to take joy in the mess he caused. Cops later got his ass for it though




[This message has been edited by squeak_D (edited 07-24-2009).]