An open carry incident that will blow your mind

[Dakotaranger]

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/06/red_black_cafe_shows_portland.html

In mid-May, Portland police Officer James Crooker  went to Southeast Portland on a patrol call. With a few minutes to spare, he decided to get a coffee.

So, he popped into the Red & Black  cafe on Southeast 12th Avenue near Oak Street, bought a coffee and was heading out when a customer approached him, saying she appreciates the hard job that police officers do every day in Portland.

One of the co-owners of the cafe, John Langley,  has another point of view. While the officer and customer were chatting, he walked up and asked Crooker to leave, saying he felt uncomfortable having a uniformed officer in the vegan cafe.

The incident, which was brief, speaks volumes about the tensions between Portland police and some members of the community who are more worried about police shootings than protection.

Crooker said he was surprised to be shown the door but left immediately. He said this marked a first during his nine-year in law enforcement, two in Portland and seven in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

"The places that I've been kicked out of before have been places like the methadone clinic," he said. "I've never been kicked out of a regular cafe."

But the 36-year-old officer, who was born and raised in Portland, said it's all part of working this city's streets in a uniform.

"We have a unique relationship with the community," he said. "You're there to protect them but on the other hand they don't know what that involves. Being gracious is part of it."

A former Marine who served in Iraq, Crooker didn't take the incident to heart.

"It was not personal," he said. "He was being hostile to my uniform," he said.

Langley, who did not raise his voice during the encounter, agreed.

"It's not about the police," Langley said. "It's about what the police represent to many people who frequent the cafe.

The cafe draws vegans -- of course -- along with homeless people and animal-rights and environmental activists who Langley said have been targets of police abuse and harassment.

But the cafe also draws customers like Cornelia Seigneur,  who blogged about the incident on her website. 

Seigneur, a freelancer for The Oregonian who was enjoying lunch with her daughter on May 18 when Crooker came in, was the one who approached him.

"There have been some unfortunate situations recently," Seigneur said. "But overall the police are out there day in and day out protecting us."

She said she struck up a conversation with Crooker to show her support for police, who she said saved the life of a friend after he was shot by gang members.

When Langley asked Crooker to leave, she was startled.

"It was shocking," Seigneur said. "Everyone deserves to have a coffee, and he was served a coffee. It was humiliating."

She said there were only about three other people in the cafe and that no else seemed to notice the officer.

But the incident has fired a reaction, with dozens of comments pouring into Seigneur's website.

It's been so overwhelming that she took the blog post down but put it back up Thursday afternoon.

The cafe, too, has received a deluge of calls, with about half supporting the cafe and the rest expressing anger.

"We've received threats," Langley said. "People have threatened to attack us and break our windows."

Still, he has no regrets.

"I never expected a police officer to come into the space," he said. "If it happened again, I wouldn't serve him."

-- Lynne Terry

[fightingquaker13]

" I never expected a police officer to come into the space, if it happened again I wouldn't serve him".
Ok..........Well, do expect a burglar to come into the space? What happens when you dial 911 and are told the police are offended by your presence and won't serve you?
FQ13 who is no great fan of The Man, but honestly, handle that at the political level, leave the cops (unless they are known assholes) alone.

[twyacht]

This is Oregon right?

"To Protect & Serve" will take on a whole new meaning, to these capitulating sheeple cowards, when they panic and dial 911, and are reminded, that when seconds count, the cops are more than a few minutes away now,...

Insulting and methinks, said cafe owner, should go to Europe where they will be better received.

[fightingquaker13]

This is Oregon right?

"To Protect & Serve" will take on a whole new meaning, to these capitulating sheeple cowards, when they panic and dial 911, and are reminded, that when seconds count, the cops are more than a few minutes away now,...

Insulting and methinks, said cafe owner, should go to Europe where they will be better received.

I tnink not. Most European police forces have powers, and matching attitudes, to make ours look like sweetness and light. They just don't have to pull the trigger as much since they've disarmed the populace and taught them to be sheep. In this sense, I give the cafe owner some credit. Teelling the cops to "Piss off, you're not welcome here" takes some stones and its not something you can do most places. I still think you reap what you sow and the police will stroll leisurley to an incident there, but still, points for balls and reminding The Man of whose property it is.
FQ13

[Ichiban]

You'd think that there would most certainly be a place in the Obummer administration for this asshat.  Certainly the officer must have "acted stupidly."

[Sponsor]

[m25operator]

What if the LE was vegan? Bound to happen don't you think? I have an LE customer who has a big tattoo on his chest, and my Boss asked him about, it was 4 x's or something similar, and he said it stood for, no alcohol, no drugs, no stimulants ( even coffee or tea ) and no depressants, an oath he took with similar officers at the academy.

Being devils advocate, and I believe in the right to refuse service to anyone you don't like, because you think, they will not pay, complicate things or are more demanding than you need to deal with, give them the address and phone # of the kind of repair person they are looking for. But what if this was simply a black man/woman, that s**t would not fly and lawsuits would rain down.  If the LE was menacing, shouting, badmouthing or just being an idiot, then OK. What happened here is the equivalent of
" We don't serve your kind here " insert group of your choice.


This is the kind of stuff KSAIL had to deal with. An he lives close enough.

[Pathfinder]

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/06/red_black_cafe_shows_portland.html
...
Crooker said he was surprised to be shown the door but left immediately. He said this marked a first during his nine-year in law enforcement, two in Portland and seven in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
...

Well, duh, opf course this never happened before. You spent 7 years in Couer d'Alene, ID. I doubt seriously that anyone in Idaho would even think of doing something this lame assed.

Anyone have the cafe's phone number? They may need to be contacted and politely told how effing stupid this move was.

[Dakotaranger]

Well, duh, opf course this never happened before. You spent 7 years in Couer d'Alene, ID. I doubt seriously that anyone in Idaho would even think of doing something this lame assed.

Anyone have the cafe's phone number? They may need to be contacted and politely told how effing stupid this move was.

I'm sure any 'choirboy' criminal that would have read the article will be ever so happy to point how assinine this was.  (ps never claimed I could spell

[twyacht]

from FQ,
Most European police forces have powers, and matching attitudes, to make ours look like sweetness and light. They just don't have to pull the trigger as much since they've disarmed the populace and taught them to be sheep.

Gee, ,must have missed that with the UK cab driver,....point being, diss the cops, and pray you never need them right away.

Oh, and BTW, I'm sure getting out in the press, the fact that the cafe owner is and unarmed pacifist, the smart BG's got their number, and it won't be long

[tombogan03884]

Path, About 3/4 of my Dads neighbors in Idaho come from Ca. Most around the Bay area. (of the ones he mentioned )