Friday, July 24, 2009

McNamara and Stamper on the Gates arrest in Cambridge

The Los Angeles Times interviewed two of America's smartest former police chiefs about the arrest of prominent Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates and President Obama's comments at a press conference.

Joseph McNamara, former chief of police in San Jose, CA and Kansas City, MO, now at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, condemned the President's remarks as a setback for the nation. Characterizing saying the Cambridge police "acted stupidly" before he knew all the facts inflamed the public in its view of the situation.

Norm Stamper, former chief of police in Seattle, WA, and author of Breaking Rank, an outstanding guide to police management, noted that the Cambridge, MA officer, Joseph Crowley, should have used "verbal judo" to defuse Gates' anger.

Both men are members of LEAP.

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