Polices Officer asked to leave

[mrsbull]

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

Red & Black cafe shows Portland officer the door, won't sell him coffee again

By Lynne Terry, The Oregonian

June 03, 2010, 3:41PM

james crookerView full sizeKimberly A.C. Wilson/The Oregonian Officer James Crooker working the Rose Festival this afternoon.

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 an police officer to come into the space," he said. "If it happened again, I wouldn't serve him."

-- Lynne Terry

I sure would not patron that place. What happens when someone carries out their threats ie breaking a window etc?? Who do they call?? I hope someone does carry that out (no harm to person of course). Just glad I am not in that area, I would go say something to the (Co-owner) ask them about their feelings about fire and ems. What do ya all think?

EDITED TO ADD: I have contacted a Mod to PLEASE CHANGE MY USERNAME BACK TO traumachic or whatever it was. No response thus far. I am getting divorced and I am not going to be mrs bull anymore I'm SINGLE!!! woohoo PLEASE CHANGE IT MODS!!

Edited June 4, 2010 by mrsbull

[HERBIE1]

So who will this whack job vegan call if his store is being robbed- Whole Foods, or some organic vegetable farm?

No offense to any here who may be vegans, but in my experience, every person I have met who has these extreme or fringe ideas is at least a sandwich short of a picnic.

[FireMedic65]

A little bit of poor taste in asking the police officer to leave. But, it was well within the rights of the manager. Just seems odd to ask someone like them to leave. Personally, if I worked in an establishment like that, I would welcome police officers. I would welcome them not because of how I feel about them but for the sole reason they are a cop. Seeing a police officer in public would generally make me feel safer.

and for the OP, premium members are allowed to change their alias. Since you are not a premium member and no longer a mrs, you would have to contact the admin and ask him for a special exemption due to personal circumstances.

[WolfmanHarris]

I strongly disagree with the cafe's owner. However, they was well within their rights to exclude the officer as a customer. I also give grudging respect that by the articles account it was done is a calm measured way. I give even more respect to the officer who obliged without incident, doing his profession proud.

I do not envy the job of the Police, who in a free society must constantly walk the ever shaking line between upholding order and respecting the majority, protecting the individual and their rights and following the lawful orders of the Government. These are not mutually exclusive aims, but they certainly don't always blend well.

Their job (like ours) is all but ignored when things go well and is quickly vilified when a signal individual makes a mistake or breaches the public trust. But if you got into law enforcement, or EMS for that matter, for public adulation, you're going to be sorely disappointed.

Edited June 4, 2010 by docharris

[mrsbull]

A little bit of poor taste in asking the police officer to leave. But, it was well within the rights of the manager. Just seems odd to ask someone like them to leave. Personally, if I worked in an establishment like that, I would welcome police officers. I would welcome them not because of how I feel about them but for the sole reason they are a cop. Seeing a police officer in public would generally make me feel safer.

and for the OP, premium members are allowed to change their alias. Since you are not a premium member and no longer a mrs, you would have to contact the admin and ask him for a special exemption due to personal circumstances.

It was changed before this premium member thing came along and for a little bit after. It was approx a year 1/2 or so when I had it changed. I have also sent a message to Admin. I dunno whats going on.

[DwayneEMTP]

Bars and restaurants that serve alcohol have made it clear for decades that uniformed officers are unwelcome, why is this different?

The owner states that she caters to clientele that have had specific issues with the police of late. And even if they hadn't, they tend to consider themselves rebels and all that bullshit. She wasn't shitty, the cop wasn't offended, I'm not really sure why it's an issue?

Secondary to my job I no longer enjoy any illegal substances, but it's possible that any any party at my house there may be several folks that may have trouble passing a drug screen. When I refuse to invite a police officer into my house, is it then implied that I am anti police? I am not, I simply don't agree with each and every law that they are morally/ethically obligated to enforce, and respect the fact that they will do so should I put them in a place to be forced to observe them. (For the record. No one does anything illegal in my home, on my property, or near me or my family. In fact other than a pleasant smell that they may have picked up accidently, I have no proof that anything illegal happens at all. They simply 'go for a walk' and come back a little more chipper than when they left and I have no moral issues with what I presume to be their choice of party favor. Just sayin'...)

If my business revolved around the same theory, I'm afraid I would feel the same.

Dwayne

[emtannie]

I have to agree with other posters who said that it is within the care owner’s rights to refuse service to anyone they choose.

In this case, there was something that caught my eye..

“So, he popped into the Red & Black cafe on Southeast 12th Avenue near Oak Street, bought a coffee and was heading out…..”

It was while he was talking to the other customer that the owner asked him to leave… if he had left without speaking to anyone, would the owner have said anything?

Yes, some people have negative opinions of the police, and interpret their actions as abusive and hostile, when they are performing their duties. Unfortunately, there are bad apples in every crate, and the police service is no different. There is always one who pushes too far, and is too aggressive, and those shed a bad light on others (very similar to those EMT’s and medics who treat their patients poorly, don’t respect them as humans, and handle their patients roughly or without due care).

In the event that this café does get vandalized, I am certain that the owner will call the police. I hope that he, and the police officers, handle it as professionally as they did this incident – no voices were raised, he made a request, the officer complied. I would hope that those who tend to be offended by having a uniformed officer at the café would remember that this officer respected their wishes.

[HERBIE1]

I am quite certain the police will organize an informal boycott of this place, but I'd love to see the general public jump in on it. Anyone who supports local LEO's do not patronize this establishment. Friends, family, and supporters pass out flyers and spread the word. I'm quite certain there are far more people who support the police than those who do not like them. A vocal minority can get the press, but I'd love to see payback here.

The owner has the right to refuse service to anyone, but the public also has the right to show their disapproval of this guy's ideas- which I hope they do. I don't care what type of problems they may have had there, to indict an entire department because of an isolated incident or 2 is ridiculous.

[tskstorm]

I am quite certain the police will organize an informal boycott of this place

Most likely how it would get handled here as well.

Side note, one of the cafe owners customers approached the officer, not the other way around, had he ignored or brushed off the customer who was speaking to him could you imagine the backlash and bad publicity?

[Richard B the EMT]

1) Any place of business has the right to refuse service to anyone, at least as far as I know, in the US and Canada.

2) They did, however, serve the LEO take out coffee, and then asked him to leave, when he was talking to another customer, in a conversation the customer, not the LEO, originated. Something doesn't seem right, here, but what it is, I cannot yet figure.

3) The person who was thanking the LEO for doing their collective jobs was NOT asked to leave the premises, unless I missed something in the article.

4) It is not that places that (legally) sell alcoholic beverages for on premise consumption don't want LEOs coming in, but probably that LEO supervisors don't want their LEOs in a place serving alcohol, as it may give an appearance of the LEO in the place as being intoxicated, even if the LEO didn't imbibe any alcoholic beverage. Appearances are EVERYTHING to some agencies.

5) I'm presumptuous now that the lowlifes that would rob a person or place just put this establishment on their "To Do" list.

6) Does anyone else recall the bumper sticker seen on LEO-mobiles, circa 1969, saying,

If you don't like the police, next time you are being robbed, call a hippie

?