Area police line up against Obama comment
By: Hayley Peterson
Examiner Staff
July 24, 2009
Union head in Loudoun calls president's remark a 'cheap shot'
Dozens of police officers contacted the National Fraternal Order of Police in Washington on Thursday to express their shock and anger over President Barack Obama's comment on national TV Wednesday night that a white cop in Cambridge, Mass., "acted stupidly" when he arrested a black Harvard professor.
"I was shocked that the president even made a comment about that [arrest]. It was totally uncalled for," said Marcello Muzzatti, president of the FOP chapter in D.C. "He wasn't there. He doesn't know what happened."
"Wait a minute pal, you weren't there," Ian Griffiths, president of Loudoun County's FOP, said he thought when he heard Obama's remarks. "Automatically the cops are wrong. ... That is a horrible statement for the president of the United States to be making. He has already tried and convicted that cop for doing his job."
The officer in question was investigating a report of a break-in, so he questioned Henry Louis Gates Jr. after a neighbor said she saw Gates "wedging" his way into a nearby home -- that in fact belonged to Gates -- according to the police report. Gates demanded an explanation for the investigation and accused the officer, James Crowley, of racial profiling. Crowley said Gates was causing a scene, so he arrested him on a charge of disorderly conduct.
During a prime-time news conference Wednesday, Obama said Crowley "acted stupidly," and he alluded to America's long history of racial profiling.
"Typical. Just go ahead and blame the cops. It's the easy thing to do," Muzzatti said.
Griffiths said his FOP usually steered clear of politics, but not this time. "Obama took a cheap shot," he said.
"Officers all over the country have been calling us," said Jim Pasco, president of the National FOP. "The problem here is that events like this -- and statements like this -- don't do anything to narrow the void of suspicion that unfortunately sometimes exists between the community and the officers who are there to protect them."
Crowley said publicly Thursday that he would not apologize for arresting Gates.
"Why should you apologize for doing your job and not doing anything wrong?" Griffith asked.
Muzzatti said he "stands behind" Crowley. "He isn't afraid to stick up for what he did," he said. "I applaud him."
Pasco said Crowley acted "as you would hope the officers in your neighborhood would" when responding to a call.
Pasco has been in contact with the White House and Justice Department, but he won't ask for an apology, he said.
"We hope that the cooler heads would prevail and we would be able to move past this," he said.
