Policing in America

The Sgt. Crowley and Professor Gates incident in Cambridge shows how something small can grow exponentially. Police need to understand that they have to do more than enforce laws and protect property and people. They have to do a better job of managing their own public image. We have a similar image problem here in Allentown. The criminal justice courses during my college years helped me to understand the sometimes overwhelming responsibility placed on the shoulders of local police officers. It's a tough job with limited financial rewards. Many a riot, both here and abroad, has been caused by a single action that was viewed as over the top. If a police officer shares his lunch with a homeless person or takes the time to talk to a youth heading for the wrong path, it isn't news worthy. We don't hear about it but I can assure you it happens more often then you might think. I don't know about you but I would feel threatened if I found a cop in my home, unexpected and uninvited. Regardless of my race, it would be upsetting and we have to remember that Professor Gates has both significant education and years under his belt. To be disrespected by an intrusion in his own home was probaby quite a new experience to him. He could only compare it to his own racial charged experiences with Police over the course of his lifetime. Without sensitivity and attention paid to how Police have historically dealt with people of color, it is too easy to turn a misunderstanding into a national furor over race relations and police biases.

I am glad President Obama is taking the time to calm the rhetoric of hate with dialogue in a mutually neutral location. Both men will quickly learn that when you are a guest of the White House, you have no authority, no rights and no power except what your host has granted you. This serves as the perfect place to see each other as human, fallible and flawed. Just as God intended.