FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                  

I was very pleased to receive the report prepared by the Cambridge Review Committee today.  The report is timely and important in addressing key reforms necessary to improve relationships between the Cambridge community and police department.  We must applaud the hard work of law enforcement officers here and elsewhere, and make sure they have the resources and support they need to prevent crime and keep our communities safe.  I also want to applaud the efforts of Commissioner Robert Haas, who has consistently reached out to the community to seek ways to improve the relationship between police officers and those who are subject to suspicion, detention, and arrest. 

The report is sorely disappointing, however, in its recitation of the facts, and applies equal blame to the conduct of Sgt. James Crowley, an 11 year veteran of police services, and Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University.  It is disappointing in that the key person who witnessed these events, Ms. Lucia Whalen, whose civic responsibility should be acknowledged and praised by us all, is not even mentioned.  The record clearly shows not only that Ms. Whalen called the police, but also that, contrary to Sgt. Crowley’s report, she never stated there were two black men wearing backpacks.  In fact, the only defining characteristic she gave was that one of the men may have been Hispanic.  Furthermore, it is significant that Ms. Whalen, an eye witness, stated, without any presumptions about the conduct that she was observing, that the two men might have worked there or lived there, hardly a description of someone committing a burglary.  Most important, while the report mentions that Professor Gates provided ample identification--including a photograph on his Harvard University ID and a photograph and address on his Massachusetts driver’s license--the Committee’s report offered no explanation of why Sgt. Crowley did not accept these identification cards as proof that Professor Gates was a lawful resident of this house, or why he continued his investigation after presented with proof of Professor Gates’ identity. 

I hope that a fuller examination of the entire record will help police and the general public, here and elsewhere, understand their rights and responsibilities.  I do not believe that we have to compromise security and safety in order to retain freedom of speech and of dissent.  These are the hallmarks of a democratic society, and there is no reason why we cannot exercise them freely.   

*Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. is counsel to Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and the Jesse Climenko Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the founding and executive director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice.  He is also the author of the recently published book “The Presumption of Guilt: The Arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Race, Class, and Crime in America”, published by Palgrave Macmillan.

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Contact:

Darrick Northington

Office of Professor Charles Ogletree

Harvard Law School

617-496-2054

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