Since the Henry Louis Gates story hit the news last week, I’ve thought about countless encounters my friends and I have had with the police. But an experience I had two years ago stands out.
My wife and I were at a staff Christmas dinner. Our children were at home with two baby-sitters, the son of another staffer and my wife’s cousin. While enjoying a spread of Mexican food, I got a call.
“Jay is in your driveway, and the police have him handcuffed!”
“Jay” was a teenager in our neighborhood with whom I had forged a close friendship. At the time, I was the executive director of Harambee Christian Family Center, a community outreach organization the provides afterschool programs and a private school for children and youth in inner-city Pasadena, California.
My wife and I got in our car and rushed home. When we arrived, we discovered that the officers, in assessing the situation, had entered our house and gone through each room to “make sure everything was OK.”
The situation they encountered was this: There had been a gang-related shooting in our neighborhood earlier in the week. Our neighborhood had both African American and Latino gangs, and the shooting was rumored to be black-on-black. Because a retaliation was expected, there was heavier-than-usual police presence. Squad cars roamed the streets in all directions, starting at sundown.
The officers said they observed Jay “running like crazy down the middle of the street.” (We later learned Jay was running to get back to my house, before anyone knew he had left. He had been told by his mother to stay with the two baby-sitters at my house and not leave.) The police were investigating anything suspicious, so they asked him what he was doing. Jay said he was baby-sitting “over there” and pointed to my house, just a few yards away. The officers wondered why, if he was supposedly baby-sitting, he was instead sprinting down the street on a night rumored to be pregnant with gang violence. They detained him, then went to the front door to check Jay’s story.
Jay is African American. When the officers rang the doorbell, the door was answered by the main baby-sitter, a 17-year-old African American male. My wife’s cousin, a 16-year-old African American female, stood nearby within view of the door. The officers asked to speak to the parents, and the baby-sitter said the parents were not there and that he was the baby-sitter. The officers asked if they could come in to the house and check on the children, but the baby-sitter said no, not without a warrant. (The baby-sitter had been schooled by his father about police searches: If there is no warrant, never let them in.)
The officers went back and forth in discussion with the baby-sitter. Finally, one officer pushed aside the baby-sitter and entered the house, stating that he was going to search every room to make sure “everything was OK.”
Meanwhile, Jay was detained by the police in my driveway. Neighbors had begun to gather. That’s when I received my phone call.
The officers were about to drive away when my wife and I arrived. The police explained that they had entered my house to make sure all was well, after having encountered Jay running down the street.
We actually met with the officers and a few higher-ups, about a week or so later. We requested the meeting because we were a bit shaken that the officers came into our home as they did. With flashlights in hand, they had gone through every nook of the house and entered the rooms where my two children lay sleeping. I don’t want any strangers looking in on my children, and I wasn’t happy with the situation.
The officers explained their protocol in such a situation, saying that the house search was to ensure the safety of all, and they had to ask themselves: What if the parents are tied up in a closet somewhere inside?
So here’s the big question: What if we had been tied up in a closet? Was the circumstance enough to warrant the officers’ actions? A night when a black gang is rumored to retaliate for an earlier shooting; a black teen running “like crazy” down the middle of a street in the hot area; same teen says he’s baby-sitting, yet he’s out of the house; the teen at the door says there are no parents at home, and yet won’t allow the officers in the house.
I saw their point. I saw it then, and I see it now.
They made a judgment call, that’s for sure. Would I have made the same judgment call were I in their shoes? Imagine if the parents were really inside, locked in a closet. Or what if these teens were themselves hostages, being directed how to answer by men who had just broken in and were holding the baby-sitters and my children? It’s not far-fetched to imagine such a scenario: Around that same time, a mentally unstable and violent neighbor had hopped my backyard fence and come knocking on my backdoor, asking me to hide him from the “men in blue.”
When they had ensured my children were indeed safe and that the house was “OK,” the officers left the house, released Jay, and continued with their neighborhood patrol.
All of our young people kept it cool that night, Jay included. I’m proud of them for that. My neighbor called me while the officers were still on my property. That was great. And the police officers were doing their job “to the best of their ability,” as they said later. In retrospect, perhaps they should have made some gesture of apology, or at least a simple acknowledgment, that entering our house and searching it was something no one wanted to happen. But they were respectful, even if they seemed a bit arrogant and unsympathetic at the time.
There are bad officers. There are dishonest and compromised officers. There are power-tripping officers. Many are young, with little or no training in the art of community policing. Most officers I know, however, are trying to do their jobs well. Every day they make judgment calls in damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t situations. All are trying to get home safely to their families at night.
There are no easy answers. Racial profiling is humiliating and alienates the very people you need to make a community safe, the residents themselves. Nothing changes that fact. That’s why the officers could have, at the very least, made some such gesture of acknowledgment to me and my wife when we drove up to the scene. On the other side, police officers are often in no-win, thankless situations, so I’m grateful to the men and women who serve with their hearts as well follow their protocols. The more we’re willing and able to absorb both of these realities into our worldviews, the better off we’ll be.
Hey Rudy
I like your article. I don’t disagree with some of your assumptions in general. I do believe that police departments around the country have honest cops. It would be unwise to make a negative stereotype of all police, being a Black man, I understand the agony of being interpret through one lens. However, I would also dare say that even some of the good cops struggle with stereotyping people in certain neighborhoods, and focusing in on Black and Latino men.
I wonder if a better question, which scientifically I am not sure if we can answer, but for the sake of argument. I wonder if we created two columns with incidents similar to what you described juxtaposed with a column of racial profiling and wrongful arrests without discriminating good cops vs. bad cops. Which columns would have the longer lists.
I am certain you have heard about the Innocent Project. It is a program which advocates for re-examining DNA evidence in rape and murder trials. it is amazing how brothers are being released after they have served decades in prison for crimes they did not commit. Here’s a good story that you may appreciate. Recently, a black man was released from prison. He was there accused of rape. The victim identified him twice. While in prison, another inmate celebrated this Black guy was in jail for a crime he committed. The first Black guy heard about this story, and at first planned to murder this other inmate. Instead, he pleaded with his attorney to do a DNA test once again, and take DNA from this other inmate. The original Black guy was released. The story doesn’t end there. He later met with the victim who mistakenly picked him as the perpetrator of the crime. They met in a pastor’s office to reconcile their differences. They reconciled. The Black man forgave her for identifying him years ago. They have written a book, Picking Cotton.
I say all of this, if we only identify the police as the culprits for racial profiling then we are short changing the system. Others are complicit in these discrimination patterns; witnesses, lawyers and judges.
Rudy, you are truly a humble and gracious man. Sadly, I have a ways to go before I can fully acknowledge the good that police officers do in minority communities.
Even in the circumstances decribed above, I cannot condone the police ignoring the young man’s explicit refusal to grant access to your home. I can agree with you that there are some good cops who do a honorable job of serving our communities; however, we do not live in a police state and cops must respect the rights of all citizens unless it is clear that someone’s life is in danger. I do not find it reasonable under these circumstances for the cops to think these teenagers were up to no good.
It seems to me that if the cops were concerned that someone was tied up or worse, they could have exhausted all of their options before infringing on the privacy rights of you, your family, and your guests. They could have staked the place out until a search warrant was issued (if there was danger, at least they could bring the criminals to justice). They could have asked the young man to call you and Kafi to verify over the phone that he was in fact a babysitter (effective only if the young man complied). They could have made an attempt at conversing with the young man to assess whether he was telling the truth or not.
Cops are trained (or should be) at recognizing behavior patterns that arouse suspicion. A young guy running through the street…suspcious under those circumstances. A young guy answering the door where police stood w/ a young lady by his side refusing police entry…only suspcious if he was sweating, shaking, taking fertive glances over his shoulder, or otherwise appeared to be nervous.
If the young man was trained by his father to never let the police in, then it seems like relations between the community and its police officers are somewhat strained…to put it lightly. I have heard of efforts to improve such relations going on in various cities, but more needs to be done. Cops should be made aware of the positive forces in the communities where they serve, just as much as they are aware of the negative forces. If they knew you, then it would follow that they would know that you work with young people and the idea of these young people babysitting for you and not planning some evil against you would not be so far fetched.
Meanwhile the real criminals got away
Your story illustrates the complexity of police work. I think they often end up in no-win situations, but someone has to be there. Thanks for sharing your story.
God is good
jpu
I am white and currently live in Suburbs of Atlanta. I am really surprised by the number of people around me that seem to think that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the way that the Gates incident was handled.
I used to live in Chicago. For 2 years I lived in an African American neighborhood. I was stopped frequently by police. Sometimes they asked me if I was lost (especially if I was walking with my now wife – also white). If I was by myself I was asked why I was there. But because I was white (at least this is my perception) my story that I lived and worked at a local drug rehab program was always believed. I was never cuffed or really harassed, other than being stopped about once or twice a month. I even stopped by the police station on time to tell them that there were a bunch of white kids living in the area and we would appriciate it if we weren’t stopped while walking around the neighborhood. The cops suggested we moved because they could not insure our safety.
Later, I moved to a mixed neighborhood and on several occations I or my wife were chewed out by police for doing things I would consider reasonable. For instance, one night there was a car driving down the wrong way on a one way street without the lights on. My wife was driving and flashed her lights at the car. It was a cop. He obviously wasn’t in a hurry anywhere because he had enough time to step out of his car, block the street and yell at us for several minutes. I am still not sure what we did that was unreasonable. But again we were not taken out of the car or arrested.
What I do know is that many of my African American friends had very different experiences. They were arrested and handcuffed. I know that I could walk around at night without danger because I was white. I was out of place and everyone knew it. And even though I really don’t trust a lot of cops, I never feared them. I think in the end that is the difference and every incident like Gates just shows why that difference exists.
I think the author is correct. Our interactions with the police will always be tense, that’s part of the deal when we interact with authority figures. But I think it’s always wise for citizens to defer to authority. The truth will eventually win out, but in the mean time it’s best to let the police be the police.
I think the police could have exhausted all options as another commenter stated. Sounds like they did not and this is where the problem lies. Police asks us people of color to give them the benefit of the doubt and believe they are in our communities to protect us. They want us to exhaust ALL OPTIONS before we go negative. But the same is not always reciprocated as illustrated in your story. How can you ask me to give you the benefit of the doubt through creative actions when you wont do the same for me?
The onus is more on the police since they are endowed with authority and control.