Lafayette, Here We Come
Editorial reprinted from Washington Post
in the Mattachine Review, July 1961.
There will hardly be a wet eye anywhere in the District of Columbia for the
three Morals Division plains clothes men who were arrested in Lafayette Park
by a Park Police officer one joyous night last May—and run in, presumably on
a suspicion of homosexuality. There they were-quietly minding other people’s
business—when Park Police Pvt. James E. Thomas, whose authority was candidly
attested by his uniform, asked one of them, Det. Casimir J. Morda, what he was
doing. Dissatisfied with the response, Private Thomas took Detective Morda
into custody. And when Morda called to his two colleagues for help, Thomas
promptly and efficiently, employing his judo training for the purpose, flipped
all three of them onto their backs and into the park shrubbery.
Two questions spring to mind in connection with this incident. In a town
where crime is rampant and on the increase, why should three (3) detectives of
the Metropolitan Police be stationed in Lafayette Park? And why should they be
out of uniform? The answer is obvious. The Morals Division clutters up
Lafayette Park, a known gathering place for homosexuals, with coveys of
detectives whose ugly errand is to entice some unfortunate into making an
advance that can be taken as a basis for arresting him. The whole process
borders on provocation and entrapment. Why should the simple job of policing
Lafayette Park not be done by ordinary policemen—in uniform? Instead of
commending Private Thomas for meritorious service to duty and to morality in
general, Park Police Chief Harold F. Stewart suspended the officer, a 10-year
veteran on the force—and suspended him without so much as a formal
hearing-saying that he showed "an inability to work harmoniously with the
Metropolitan Policemen." In our view, he showed simply a considerable
skill at judo and a highly developed sense of decency.
As it appeared in the Mattachine Review, July 1961
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