Report on Skip Gates Arrest To be Released Next Week

An independent committee report reviewing the controversial arrest of Professor Henry Louis "Skip" Gates, Jr. to offer "lessons learned" will be released next week, the Cambridge Police Department said today.

As recent as last week, the CPD said that it was unaware of any release date of the report, but CPD spokesman Daniel M. Riviello said this morning that the report will be presented at a press conference in the middle of next week.

The Cambridge Review Committee, a group of 12 academics and law enforcement personnel, was formed last September to generate recommendations regarding police training, department procedures, and the role of race and class in policing—particularly significant given the nationwide accusations of racial bias on the part of the CPD in the July 16 arrest of Gates, who is African-American.

In a March 1 "progress report," the committee said that a final report would be issued in the late spring. Earlier this month, the Cambridge Chronicle reported that it would be submitted to the city last week.

The Cambridge Review Committee’s report will come on the heels of an analysis by the police department that absolved it of any systematic racial bias in its application of the disorderly conduct charge. The analysis found that between 2004 and 2008, 31.2 percent of individuals arrested for disorderly conduct—the charge that prompted Gates’ arrest—were black, which was under the national average of 34.9 percent.

The CPD also said that the racial makeup of alleged perpetrators of disorderly conduct when the arresting officer was white—64 percent white and 30 percent black—closely mirrored the distribution when the arresting officer was black—65 percent white and 30 percent black.

A report from the New England Center for Investigative Reporting—initiated in light of Gates' arrest—produced similar findings, stating that the racial breakdown of arrests for disorderly conduct closely mirrored the racial composition of individuals investigated for disorderly conduct.

The discussion of racial bias in policing gained momentum after Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct at his home last summer, an event that sparked criticism of the Cambridge Police Department and allegations of racial prejudice. Charges were dropped against Gates on July 21.

—Staff writer Naveen N. Srivatsa can be reached at srivatsa@fas.harvard.edu.