Police Arrest Harvard Professor

Say you just arrived home from a three-week trip abroad. You find your front door stuck, so you have to enter your house through the back door. But to get your luggage inside, you have to shoulder open the front door. This all takes a few minutes, but you finally get all inside. Phew. It’s good to be home.

Then a couple minutes after, you find the police knocking on your door.

How would you handle this scenario?

I like to think I’m a reasonable citizen, appreciative of what the police do for the community. When a police officer says he’s responding to a report of a suspected burglary, and asks for identification, I think my response would be, “Oh, sure, let me get my wallet.” I’d probably even add, “Come on in, take a look around if you want to.”

I hope I’d appreciate the attentiveness and care of a neighbor keeping an eye out for my home (especially when I’m away for weeks), and the responsiveness and responsibility of the police for investigating a report of suspicious activity at my home. I mean, the alternative is having neighbors not care or the police not look into someone actually burglarizing my home.

I’d explain why I had to enter my home by the back door, and I’d explain why I had to shoulder my way into the front door (maybe even giving them a demonstration of the stuck portal). I might even laugh at how it probably did, indeed, look suspicious to someone outside. In my mind, this whole situation is a very good thing – neighbors and police are looking out for a citizen and his home.

But then, the above is how a reasonable and understanding citizen might handle the scenario.

Here’s how a jackass with a chip on his shoulder would handle the situation: ABC News

Bullgrit