The whole Roxanne’s Revenge story? Rap teen took advantage of a minor clause in her contract to have the evil record company pay for all her education up to an including her Ivy-League PhD?
Reported in Blender and more recently the Daily News? The feel good story of 2008 for the old-school hip hop world? I didn’t post about it, but I did all my classes. It never happened. [sigh]
It’s still a great song.
But I think, 25 years later, that UTFO is the winner of this rap battle by technical knockout.
Here is my take on the matter. Only the first three points are new.
1) The 911 call was excellent. A woman saw something suspicious and reported it. Race was not mentioned. In fact, the caller specifically said she could not determine race and raised the possibility that the people lived there. But better safe than sorry.
2) The call was dispatched as typical, with the officer knowing very little about the actual 911 call. But the 911 operate seems to have done a pretty job at getting the relevant info to the dispatcher.
3) Once a wagon is called for, it means somebody is going to be put in it. It’s not clear about the time frame or officer’s location at this point. I don’t know if the clip above is complete or edited or what.
4) The officer had every legal right to be in the house and needed to investigate a possible burglary.
5) The arrest of Gates was dumb. That does not mean the arrest was wrong. The arrest was dumb because it Henry Louis Gates Jr. and you don’t want discretionary arrests for disorderly conduct to become national news. I thought so on day one and I still think so.
And thank you for all your comments. It’s been a great discussion. Too bad I’ve been in Mexico, missing all the fun.
For me at least. My wife writes travel books. And no, travel writing is not as glamorous as you’d think. She’s going to Mexico. I tag along and play the role of Pedro, El Chófer.
She and her friend also have an outstanding cookbook coming out soon. Forking Fantasticquotes me as saying a mandoline is more dangerous than me drunk with a gun. A stand by that statement.
I return in August, straight to Baltimore and my favorite crab feast.
In the meantime, keep commenting, stay civil, and stay safe.
[update: Obama says the police acted “stupidly” in arresting Gates’. Has he been reading my blog?]
Should being an a-hole to police get you locked up?
Seriously.
Remember, being an a-hole isn’t technically a crime. But many people have talked their way into handcuffs. Police can always get you for something.
I ask this because my wife seemed vaguely bothered by this concept. But it doesn’t bother me.
John Van Maanen wrote the classic academic piece appropriately titled “The Asshole.” Some of it is a bit dated now (it’s from 1978), but the core concept holds true. Police label people as suspicious persons, know-nothings, or assholes. Assholes are likely to get locked up (in Van Maanen’s time, beaten).
More recently Southpark’s Cartman said, “This will teach you to question my authoritay!” And Chris Rock’s “How Not to Get Your Ass Kicked By the Police” always deserves another viewing.
Now Rock, like Van Maanen, talks about getting your ass kicked. But the same applies to getting arrested for some B.S. charge. I honestly don’t know how police could do their job if they didn’t have a “catch all” offense to lock you up (but of course you need smart police officers to use and not abuse this discretion).
Seems like you should treat everybody with respect–strangers, waiters, employees in stores–but of all people you should treat with respect, a police officer with a gun, handcuffs, and the legal authority to put your ass in jail should be pretty high on the list.
In the old days, if you were a jerk to the police, they might beat you. That doesn’t happen much anymore. Ultimately cops have handcuffs. Handcuffs–and not, as Bittner once said, the use of force–handcuffs define the function of police.
But what are you supposed to do as a cop if somebody will not respect your authority? Look, if I tell a drug dealer to leave a corner and he says, “f*ck you.” He’s got to go. What is a cop supposed to do when verbally confronted? You can’t through down and play the dozens.
Every police/public confrontation ends up in one of three ways: the suspect must 1) defer to police authority, 2) leave the scene, or 3) get locked up. Right or wrong, there really is no other choice. Not that I can think of.
Generally, I had a pretty high-tolerance (at least by Baltimore cop standards) for taking sh*t. I’m a pretty mellow guy. Sometimes I would just laugh. I did not have a chip on my shoulder and I didn’t want to lower myself to ghetto standards. Other cops would be quicker to take things personal.
But if you questioned my authority? Well, ain’t nobody gonna punk me. Not when I was working. Cops can’t lose face. Period. To do so is dangerous if you ever have to walk those streets again.
I didn’t see it as my job to teach people respect. It was usually too late for that, anyway. But if you wouldn’t respect me, you would at least obey me. If I had to get in your face, so be it. Better to feared than loved, cops will tell you. I don’t buy that. Better to be obeyed than feared, I say. When people are afraid, they strike back when cornered.
But sometimes you have to make people think you’re crazy. Make them think you hate them. Make them afraid. I reserved that act for special occasions.
[Why do you think so many cops shave their heads? I did, too. Looking like a skinhead might not be good for community policing, but it can make a criminal think twice before wanting to fight you.]
As a cop, I didn’t want to be loved. I didn’t mind being feared. I did want to be respected. But all that really mattered to me was to be obeyed.
I want to listen to right-wing radio more. To hear what you guys are saying. But it’s hard. Public radio isbetter. And doesn’t have all those damn commercials.
I don’t mind listening to people I disagree with. Actually I love it. It’s boring to preach to the choir. Give me a William Buckley or a Milt Rosenberg or an Andrew Sullivan or a Pat Buchanan. They’re all too conservative for me, but they’re smart and their intellectual discussions make the world a better place.
My problem isn’t with conservatives. It’s with conservatives who make things up and then rally against it. I don’t like listening to idiot liberals. So why do some conservatives like to listen to idiot conservatives?
I listed to a bit of Michael Savage yesterday but I just can’t take him. Not because he’s crazy. But because he’s full of sh*t.
I’m all for free speech. Let Limbaugh and Savage speak all they want. But it’s the listeners I worry about. If you listen, do you really believe what they say or is it pure entertainment? I’m sure Father Charles Coughlin was entertaining too. But he was also scary.
Many hate filled people and groups are entertaining. Just think of the Illinois Nazis in The Blue Brothers.
A laugh riot…. Man I love that movie. But real people who spew hate andlies should be called out, dismissed, and then ignored as best as possible.
Specifically, for starters, Obama is not a fan of Stalin and Nancy Polesi is not trying to turn the U.S. into the old Soviet Union. And I’d be, well, genuinely shocked if global cooling was a bigger problem than global warming (but I can’t vouch for that one personally).
But the part of Savage that was really off the deep end of the deep end was when he came out against Michael Jackson lying in state in the capitol rotunda. What?!
Savage was so disgusted with the idea that he promised that if that ever came to be, he would leave the country. I mean, can you believe those communists might honor that pederast in the capitol. Disgusting! Except, of course, nobody has ever proposed that Michael Jackson should be honored by congress.
You can’t make sh*t up and then come out against it! Did I miss something?
I’m against Michael Savage torturing puppies and selling their mutilated genitals online. It’s horrible. Disgusting. Just perverted. And I’m sure that crap wouldn’t be allowed in the old Soviet Union!
Can I just say I can’t believe that we have a president of the United States who dares to say, even in jest:, “In the Heezee. Waz’ up!” I love it.
And if you think Obama is “unpresidential,” go back and look at Bush looking under the table [at 5:10 and 5:55] for non-existent weapons of mass destruction.
Still think Iraq wasbehind 9/11? Would hearing George W. Bush say otherwise convince you? Would anything? [1:19: “What did Iraq have to do with [the bombing of the World Trade Center]? Nothing! … Nobody has ever suggested that the attacks of September 11 were ordered by Iraq.”]
That’s just about as exciting a headline as “dog bites man.”
I joked about murder victims. Of course you joke about murder victims. I mean, you do try and wait till you’re away from from the murder scene before joking about murder victims (though I didn’t even always pass that test).
So after work — after seeing another person take his last earthly breath, after looking at a dead criminal’s brain spatter all about, after seeing the bastard’s family break down over the death of their “baby,” after hearing witness after witness say they “didn’t see nothin’,” after sorting through the guy’s bloody and dirty clothes for evidence collection — after all that you go have a few beers with your buddies and you tell stories. You laugh. You try and make sense out of world that makes no sense.
This is what police do. Doctors and nurses and paramedics and firefighters do the same same thing. I bet undertakers have a wicked sense of humor, too. Why? Because they do it day after day. What are workers of death supposed to do? Cry every time they see a dead body? Workers who have to deal with trauma day in and day out need to be able to be a bit callous to trauma. It’s literally a job requirement. And humor and sharing are coping mechanisms.
We literally police to come across horrible scenes at random and also observe minute details. And sometime we require them to take pictures. And then you we expect them to… what exactly? Buy flowers and the first silk-screened t-shirt in memory of the dead guy?
It’s called gallows humor. And I support it. It’s cheaper than a shrink. Often times it is more effective, too. People who deal with murder victims need to be able to joke about murder victims. Otherwise they’d go crazy.
Now an Erie police officer, James Cousins II, is being suspended for doing just that.
Sure, this cop had a few too many. But we all have.
So what exactly is the crime? He was off duty. Is the crime to think such things? or to say such things? Or to be recorded and posted without your consent on youtube? We all gossip and think and say insensitive things in private and to our friends that are not appropriate for public broadcast.The appropriateness of speech changes according to time and place. If he gave this speech to a news camera for the evening news, then that would be inexcusable. Even in semi-public environments like bars we deserve some protection of privacy and free speech. This wasn’t a racist tirade. He didn’t use the N-word (neither of which would be appropriate in any context). He’s a drunk cop telling a war story.
And for the record, it is funny, even hilarious, to see a picture of a guy shot dead in the head right under a malt-liquor sign that says, “Take it to the head”! Swear to God. But yeah, you had to be there. Whether you wanted to be there or not.
I think we were able to pull that surveillance off not only because it was quiet from the rain but also because it was 1 month and 3 days after 9/11. We were rolling 3 – 4 deep and had every spare car on the road.
Here’s a nice action video of a drug corner shot by a police officer friend of mine back in October 2001.
Basically this corner is a three-man (or boy) shop. The guy in the green shirt is the money man and the biggest man of this not-so-impressive. The kid in the white t-shirt (let’s call him “Little Man”) is kind of a go-between man and utility boy. An apprentice. A thug in the making. By the way, I’m guessing he’s about 13. I’m also guessing that if you had to live in what probably passes as his “home,” you might be on the corner, too.
The third guy (white do-rag ) may be around the corner hitting people off or may be out and about, drumming up business. He’s not around in the beginning and appears to not be in cuffs at the end.
The drug stash is in the rubble by the steps.
I describe an efficient drug shop in a lot more detail in my book, Cop in the Hood. Here, I’m not impressed. Things are sloppy. They’re all doing a little of everything. Too often the drugs and money are too often in the same hands. It takes way too long to complete the drug deal with white girl. And I think Mr. Green Shirt is drinking on the job. Plus they get arrested.
It is good police work. Usually patrol doesn’t have the time to this kind of surveillance. Maybe the rain kept the radio quiet.
3 min., 15 sec. No audio.
Here’s a timeline:
6:35:00 Kids standing in the rain.
6:35:18 White addict comes up. Just strolling through the hood in the rain, minding her own business. How did I know she’s addict? Sometimes being a cop is very easy.
6:35:45 Reach in stash.
6:36:47 Go around corner to hit off.
6:37:31 Reach in stash again, pass to young kid.
6:37:50 Positively skips with delight because he’s about to make four sales!
6:37:55 Cluster fuck of junkies on corner. Crowd control skills come into play.
6:38:12 What the hell is that guy carrying?
6:38:45 Junkies heading back after hit off.
6:39:30 Counting money.
6:41:45 Running away. Po-po must be near. (Is that a bottle or the stash in his hand? I think a bottle).
6:42:47 Back at stash. He thinks he’s safe.
6:44:29 Two of the three in cuffs.
6:45:45 Police officer recovers stash.
If you have police video I can have, let me know. Especially if you’re police. I promise to keep you anonymous and edit out anything that needs to be edited out.
This video isn’t exactly action packed. In fact, nothing happens. Really. It’s just a one minute drive through the streets of East Baltimore. But that’s one minute more than you’ve probably seen. And notice the sleepy-voiced dispatcher over the police radio. If he didn’t sound sleepy, It would get your attention. He was skilled. The last thing you want as a cop is a dispatcher who can’t handle the pressure. When things are going crazy, you want confidence that the dispatcher at least has things under control. This guy was always on the ball. Plus I loved his smooth DJ voice.
A bad dispatcher is dangerous. And even if nobody gets hurt, a bad dispatcher just makes work unpleasant. Dispatching is not an easy skill. And they don’t get paid much. So quality is too often low. This dispatcher was the best. From police headquarters downtown, if need be he could direct you in or of Iron Alley. He knew the streets of East Baltimore. That’s a safety thing. Too bad he didn’t work midnights.