Discrimination to a brother officer.

General General Discussion
1

http://www.koinlocal6.com/content/news/topstories/story/Cafe-asks-Portland-Cop-to-leave/PxSFB2UbW0GzW-yLknbXWQ.cspx

PORTLAND, Ore. - It was early Tuesday afternoon, May 18th, Cornelia Seigneur was having lunch with her daughter at the Red and Black Cafe at Southeast 12th and Oak.

Seigneur had struck up a conversation with Portland Police officer James Crooker who had just picked up coffee to go. Then Seigneur said one of the cafe’s owners approached and said something that stunned Seigneur.

Seigneur blogged about the whole incident here.

“He looked at the policeman and said I’d like you to leave,” she said.

The officer left without incident, but Seigneur says she was both shocked and disappointed that an officer was run out of a cafe simply because of his profession.

“I felt just really uncomfortable – just really uncomfortable about it and I felt many of our customers and co workers would not feel safe in a space with a uniformed police officer with a gun,” said Red and Black Cafe co-owner John Langley.

Langley says he’s not trying to make a statement. Rather he says he was trying to make the cafe feel safe and comfortable for customers – many of whom feel preyed upon by Portland Police.

Langley says many customers and co-workers feel Portland Police abuse power. Langley says many people who feel that abuse are customers.

The Portland Police Bureau has had three deadly shootings so far in 2010.

Aaron Campbell was shot in the back Jan. 29 after refusing to follow orders to lie on the ground. Officers shot non-lethal beanbag rounds at him first, but Campbell still did not comply and actually started to run away from officers when he was shot in the back. He was unarmed.

Jack Collins was shot multiple times by a Portland Police officer March 22 at the Hoyt Arboretum. Collins, a homeless man with mental issues, was using a razor blade knife to threaten people in the park. Collins did not comply to officers’ orders to lie down.

Portland Police fired 32 shots at Keaton Otis, hitting the 25-year-old 23 times on May 12. Otis lead police on a chase through many Portland city blocks, refusing to pull over despite flashing lights and multiple orders over a loud speaker. Otis still did not comply after he was Tasered twice. Otis pulled out a gun and shot Officer Christopher Burley twice in the leg. That’s when other officers unloaded 32 rounds at Otis, hitting him 23 times.
Officer Crooker’s response

Officer James Crooker has been with Portland Police for two years and says he wasn’t aware of the prevailing attitute toward police among co-owners of the Red and Black Cafe when he went in for coffee to go and was subsequently asked to leave because he is a police officer.

Crooker says he has mixed emotions about being asked to leave. During his tour of duty in Iraq in 2004, he grew an appreciation, he says, for people’s willingness and freedom to challenge authority. In Iraq, says Crooker, people would never confront an authority figure. So in one sense he says he was slightly humiliated and disappointed. On the other hand, Crooker says, he’s appreciative of a country that allows people to question who ever they want – concerning what ever they want.

According to LegalZoom and LegalMatch, places of business like restaurants and cafes have the right to refuse service for specific reasons.

LeagalZoom cites the Unruh Civil Rights Act from 1959 as protection against discrimination by business owners. The law was named for Jesse Unruh, who wrote the law. According to LegalZoom, “business owners could not discriminate, for example, against hippies, police officers, homosexuals, or Republicans, solely because of who they were.”

LegalMatch says that even though restaurants may be privately owned, “the primary purpose of a restaurant is to sell food to the general public, which necessarily requires susceptibility to equal protection laws.”

I am utterly disgusted, maybe a road trip is in order with few of my fellow officers to this den of anarchists. OFF DUTY of course.

2

You’ll just get beaten with pipes while the world condemns your actions; not those of the crowd.

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Before anyone takes my last line about visiting this coffee house out of context. I am not alluding to a violent act towards them. Merely going in out of uniform with 3 or 4 fellow officers, having some food, engaging with other patrons and then after they felt comfortable that we were good guys reveal that we are LEO’s. I think it would show them how flawed their logic is.

4

I don’t agree with them at all but it sounds like they have a problem with the Portland PD, not necessarily all LEO’s. From my experience when you live in a city where there’s multiple officer involved shootings within a certain period of time, and specifically one where a subject was shot after refusing to lay down, they tend to side with the victim due to lack of understanding of the situation and the inherit danger of the job. They just think the cops shot him for not lying down and therefore think that the cops are a bunch of renegade cowboys. Again, not my opinion just what I’ve observed.

5

What’s that line “Their turf, their rules”

6

Im thinking a prime place for a weekly armed robbery…

most place I know encourage the local PD to come hang out, my x-wife had a business in a bad part of houston, HPD would come sit in her parking lot and do reports, once I figured out why they were doing there, I started BBQ’n every saturday for the guys, Id have 5-20 locals come by for lunch :smiley:

7

Sad as it is, police get a bad rap sometimes. Granted there are those among who aren’t acting in accordance with their sworn oath. I found this cafe’s site and it just exudes anarchy and the proliferation of civil disobedience. On another note, this action shows poor business management skills, totally alienating a customer base.

8

If you’re going to quote an article, please provide a link for that article.

9

Although I find their policy to be on the far left of stupid, it is their cafe and their rules. Don’t want to sell coffee to cops? Fine, next time you are robbed don’t call them for help.

10

Ahh… Anarchy and civil disobedience, the religion of the feeble minded.

From their website it sounds like a hangout for retarded hippies. My feelings wouldn’t be hurt if they told me to leave. I’d take it as a compliment. Means you’re doing something right… :slight_smile:

11

Whatever happened to the days when if your kids were acting in way Un-American that we sent them to military school. I miss that America.

12

She’s still there, you just have to wade through all the liberal PC bullshit that seems to cloud everybodys judgement nowadays.

I come from a long lineage of military men and women. If my kids ever acted that way they’d be begging to go to military school just to get away from me.

13

I wonder how fast ACLU would have been on-site if it was some hippy or gay asked to leave.

14

Just because a person has a right to do something, doesn’t mean it’s appropriate to do so.

What’s this frickin’ world coming to? :rolleyes:

15

Found a FB page boycotting the place, just saying. Personally I think he is a capitalist posing as a marxist, who thinks he is an anarchist, but really he is just a ignorant person living in his parents basement and mad cuz the cops took his pot one day when he was an emo kid in grammar school.

16

Someone from that area needs to invite a bunch of Officers and park right in front of that establishment before and/or after their shift is over. Then they should buy their coffee from somewhere else and stand around drinking it.

If the do this on public property, there isn’t a damned thing the shop owner can do.

Or maybe someone can put out the word that this coffee shop is off-limits to Responding Officers? I bet those assholes won’t hesitate to dial 9-1-1 and ask the officers to hurry up if they were getting robbed or ransacked. :mad:

17

I like yelp.com a lot for reviews of different restaurants & businesses. They’re currently getting slammed on a lot of fronts due to this and I think it’s great http://www.yelp.com/biz/red-and-black-cafe-portland.

18

When one person fucks up in an organization/race/etc, the entire organization/race/etc is tainted.

Let’s say there is a cop and his name is Mike. The public has seen that Mike’s department has been fucking up lately and creating uneccessary tragedies.

What the public doesn’t know is that police officer Mike is actually a pretty decent guy who is honest to god in his profession. But because he’s a part of a tainted organization, he get’s the same negative treatment.

This will never change. It is the human way.

Sort of how when some good people of “race 1” move into the neighborhood of “race 2”, then “race 2” gets unnerved because “race 1” is always on the ten o’clock news making trouble.

19

LOL at some of the satirical reviews on that page now…

20

With little exception, businesses should have the right to serve or refuse service as they see fit. Conduct of the cafe in question is nonsensical to me, but it should be their right.

Regardless of their conduct, the cafe is entitled to receive at least a minimum amount of LE and safety services. I hope that they will receive precisely that minimum.

According to LegalZoom and LegalMatch, places of business like restaurants and cafes have the right to refuse service for specific reasons.

LeagalZoom cites the Unruh Civil Rights Act from 1959 as protection against discrimination by business owners. The law was named for Jesse Unruh, who wrote the law. According to LegalZoom, “business owners could not discriminate, for example, against hippies, police officers, homosexuals, or Republicans, solely because of who they were.”

LegalMatch says that even though restaurants may be privately owned, “the primary purpose of a restaurant is to sell food to the general public, which necessarily requires susceptibility to equal protection laws.”

LegalZoom and LegalMatch? Really? :rolleyes:

The Unruh legislation referenced appears to be a CA law, and as such, is not binding on anyone outside CA. The CA statute as written is a little scary if you’re a business owner.