Handcuffed for no reason in Baltimore, 2: Sorry not sorry [update]

As I told you earlier, on January 20th, at around 8:40am, I got handcuffed on the streets of Baltimore for no reason. (More precisely, on the corner in front of Yum’s Asian Bistro on 25th and Charles. They seem like nice people! You should patronize their establishment.)

This evening (January 21st), at 6pm, I got a message from Major Gibson of the Northern District of the Baltimore Police. I called him back around 9, after feeding my kids and putting them to bed.

What transpired was somewhere between apology and defensive maneuver, at once ingratiating, polite, and just this side of creepy.

“I am sorry that that had to happen to you [sic],” he began. “What?” I said. “The incident with the handcuffing.” Ah, I responded, wondering why it “had” to happen to me, precisely, and what he was sorry for if it “had” to happen.

Things got weirder from there. He proceeded to tell me that the “full story” was being presented from his point of view to the Internal Affairs department currently investigating my handcuffing. Among the details he provided: the officer who handcuffed me is “among the newer ones,” but “good and honest.” He tries to follow “not just standard procedure, but whatever’s the right thing to do.”

That threw me for a loop. Is it standard procedure to handcuff people for no reason? And is not handcuffing a mark of righteous behavior? One might think this is a minimal expectation for law enforcement, that they not go around handcuffing innocents.

He told me that “members of the community” were worried about drug sales in the area. In fact, he says, the officers had pursued a second person at the same time, who was also not involved. That two out of two people approached by the cops were the wrong ones does not inspire confidence. (And I wonder what happened to the other guy. Did he get a phone call?)

Finally, he emphasized his good relations with the community and that he was calling to apologize (though, given that he thought it necessary to provide a “full story” to the investigators, I am not sure whether he thinks his officer did anything wrong).

I told him I appreciated his time and politeness, as well as his apology, but such run-ins between Baltimoreans and the police seem to be a systematic issue, and most of them do not get an apology. Major Gibson did not respond to this observation.

I am left feeling unapologized to - or, rather, the recipient of something even worse: a pseudo apology which reinforces the sense that Baltimore Police misses the point, and is only calling me because I’m white and work at Hopkins.

My suspicion: these things happen all the time in Baltimore, mostly to African-Americans, and they never get apology calls.