Cambridge Police have some explaining to do--Why were there two different police reports?

[Blue_Roses]

Cambridge — "It began with a well-known black Harvard professor trying to get into his own home last week after a week away in China. It ended with the man, Henry Louis Gates Jr., being hauled off to jail for disorderly conduct and the Cambridge Police Department facing accusations of racial profiling.


The charges against Gates were abruptly dropped Tuesday and the incident called “regrettable and unfortunate” in a joint press release from the city and police department.
"Cambridge Police refused comment and denied public records requests after arresting one of the country’s most respected African-American scholars outside his home last week."

--snip--

Cambridge Police Monday invoked an investigatory exemption to the Freedom of Information Act and refused to release the arrest report or answer questions about the incident. They cited the ongoing investigation into the disorderly conduct arrest, even though the report made its way to various news outlets, including the Chronicle and Boston Globe."

--snip--

"Meanwhile, for reasons that the paper has declined to explain. the Globe briefly removed a copy of Gates’ arrest report, only to replace it later with a version with far less detail.

In an e-mail, Dave Beard, a Globe editor would only say the report was “less important with charges dropped.” Cambridge Police spokesman Jimmy DiFrancesco said the department is looking into who leaked the report to the press.

The Chronicle has the original document posted on its Web site, WickedLocalCambridge.com."

more...


http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/x639771064/With-Gates-charges-dismissed-more-questions


---------------------------

"Cambridge PD looking into leaked police report

Cambridge Police spokesman Jimmy DiFrancesco tells me the department is looking into who leaked the Henry Louis Gates police report to the media. “We’re in the process of seeing where it came from,” said DiFrancesco.

If you remember, the department’s legal adviser, Kelly Downes, cited an investigatory exemption (Exemption F) for not releasing the report. We eventually got our hands on the report as it made its way from media outlet to media outlet, only after Boston.com posted an unredacted copy of the report"

http://blogs.townonline.com/cambridge/2009/07/21/cambridge-pd-looking-into-leaked-police-report/

[BlooInBloo]

1. Hush. Gates was tumultuous. That's all we need to know.

[Cha]

2. One of those..

"the plot thickens", incidents?

[4lbs]

3. Could it be that they are also wondering why the person who called the police said that

there were TWO YOUNG black men WITH BACKPACKS trying to break into the house?

How far away, or hallucinogenic, does a person have to be to confuse a 58 year old black man, walking with a limp and a cane, as TWO YOUNG black men WITH BACKPACKS?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

6. I'm guessing it is because he enlisted the help of the limo driver to force the door open.

The limo driver carried his luggage which may have included something carried over the shoulder???? Just a guess.

[LiberalFighter]

8. I wonder if the limo was still there when the citizen reported the incident.

If the citizen had been smart to take pictures with their camera if they had that capability. And then transmit to e911 if they have capability of receiving such transmissions. And e911 could had transmit it to the responding officer.

That's an idea to consider.

[Blue_Roses]

9. I don't think the citizen was that smart

[4lbs]

22. If he was a limo driver, then certainly there would have been a limo right?

And this person who made the call to police should have seen the limo parked in front of the house.

So, how many house burglars do you know that ride around in limos?

[hedgehog]

4. I'm starting to wonder if Gates' race is clouding a seperate

issue - Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

[Spazito]

5. Oh boy, this could get REAL interesting if there IS two 'versions' of..

the police report. Once a police report is filed, is the officer filing that report or anyone else allowed to make changes to it? Once it is 'signed off' on by the officer, is it not a legal document not to be subjected to changes?

[Blue_Roses]

7. Yeah, and look who is over the "RECORDS UNIT"...

Sergeant - James Crowley

"The Cambridge Police Department's Records Unit is a controlled public service area which stores all police records and reports. The Records Unit distributes certain reports to the public and to various law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI, U.S. Secret Service, and the U.S. State Department. The Records Unit houses files pertaining to arrests, incidents, and accidents. The unit also issues and archives FID Cards and Licenses to Carry Firearms. As with other units of the Cambridge Police Department, the Records Unit adheres to strict standards of confidentiality: nothing about a report is discussed over the telephone"

link...


http://www.cambridgema.gov/CPD/PoliceUnits/police_unit.cfm?unit_id=5

[Spazito]

10. Oh my, that is certainly interesting....

if there is, indeed, two versions of the report. I was glad to see this in your OP:

"The Chronicle has the original document posted on its Web site, WickedLocalCambridge.com."

The original may well come in handy when the 'official' report becomes public.

[Blue_Roses]

12. the report that was leaked had the comments about Gates saying

"I'll talk to ya mama outside"...:wtf:

That doesn't even sound like something he would say.

[fishwax]

16. yeah, that was a

:wtf:

Sounded like a bit of caricature.

[Spazito]

17. Yes, it struck me as odd when I first read it....

If that comment is NOT in the 'official' report I expect there will be some ramifications to the report being changed.

[vaberella]

18. I know what you're implying and I'm going to keep my mouth shut because that will make me explode.

I can't think too much about how far that will go. Ugh.

[Stephanie]

19. There are two! No wonder I was confused. I posted this one last night:

This is the shorter version, which I posted http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/7/22/756574/-Henry-Louis-Gates-Arrest,-In-His-Own-Words">here

http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Original_PDF/2009/07/21/0721docket_redacted_revised__1248200728_6644.pdf

Then a commenter posted this, longer version:

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/Police%20report%20on%20Gates%20arrest.PDF

I was wondering how that happened!

[Blue_Roses]

24. reading that ridiculous report screams

BULLSHIT!

[Liberation Angel]

11. Obama is right. The cop was stupid and racist

It is one thing to investigate properly.

But this guy let his biases show by continuing to bullshit Gates when Gates was asking for his ID.

It was an argument over authority and the cop abused his authority, based on the original report once he knew that Gates was the legal resident.

I suspect prejudice played a role in the original report, but that is much harder to establish. If two white men were jimmying Gates' door i am sure he would be pleased that the cops were called -- African American men too trying to jimmy his door would probably piss Gates off if they did not have permission.

So the initial investigation may have been justified and the cop actually instigated and inflamed this incident as near as I can tell.

He could and should have walked away.

Any other human being in Gates house being an asshole would have been arrested but because this cop was getting pwned by Gates for his approach and attitude, he arrested gates. THAT is a civil rights violation based on prejudice and abuse of power IMHO.

That is based on my reading of the original report

[Blue_Roses]

13. Once the cop realized that Gates did indeed live there, he should have apologized

for the inconvenience and left!

[redqueen]

14. Hmmmmm

This issue sure isn't going away as quickly as some might want it to.

[Solomon]

15. Because a lot of people just refuse to admit that the cop

went too far.

[kestrel91316]

20. I assumed there was the cop's statement and then there was Gates' statement,

and both statements went into the one report.

[Stephanie]

21. Gates had no statement in the police report

See this diary:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/7/22/756574/-Henry-Louis-Gates-Arrest,-In-His-Own-Words

Here is Gates account of what happened, from an interview:

http://www.theroot.com/views/skip-gates-speaks?page=0,0

Here is the shorter police report:

http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Original_PDF/2009/07/21/0721docket_redacted_revised__1248200728_6644.pdf

And here is the longer one:

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/Police%20report%20on%20Gates%20arrest.PDF

I don't know which report came first. Gates' attorney also released a statement, which is available on the internets somewhere if you'll poke around.

[uponit7771]

23. ******The Chronicle has the original document posted on its Web site, WickedLocalCambridge.com*****