A rare thing has happened in the Henry Louis Gates incident of last summer, when the African-American Harvard professor was arrested in his own home on suspicion of burglary. Through a yearlong investigation and report, an impartial review committee has shone a bright light on what occurred at the Cambridge, Mass., residence and whether police racial profiling took place.

An impartial public investigation is rare when racial profiling is alleged. In Vermont — if there is an investigation of alleged profiling — it’s usually done by the police themselves.

That’s the case in Hartford, Vt., where the Vermont State Police have been called in to investigate a situation eerily similar to the Gates incident of last summer.

A well-known local African-American with an Ivy League background (Dartmouth graduate) was arrested at his own home on suspicion of burglary. Neighbors — including a retired police officer — vouched that the man was the homeowner and wasn’t a burglar. Hartford police didn’t listen; in fact, they told the neighbors to back off or face arrest. Police handcuffed the black man, and hauled him out of his condo.

The local newspaper, the Valley News, ran a story about the incident. But when the paper tried to get basic information from the police about what happened — the paper requested the police blotter report — the request was denied because it wasn’t in writing (which, actually, isn’t required by law).

When the newspaper then submitted the request in writing, the chief announced he wasn’t going to turn over the report because he had just called the Vermont State Police — where he used to work — to investigate what happened. Since the incident was now the subject of an investigation, he couldn’t release the report, he said.

There are a lot of problems here with the police response to the paper’s request (let alone to how they may have treated the homeowner).

For starters, police blotter reports are public information; reporters, and the general public, have a right to see them.

Second, it’s disingenuous to quickly launch an investigation (and, to boot, an investigation by an agency whose close, lateral ties to the local police department discount a perception of impartiality) and turn around and say that because of the investigation the report is now off-limits.

Racial profiling has been a flashpoint issue in Vermont for many years. Police insist they don’t profile; members of various minorities insist that they do.

We’ll never know the truth until we have a way of policing police. One way to do that would be to license police officers, just like we do teachers, lawyers, doctors, plumbers, landscape architects, and beauticians. The public needs confidence that an impartial body investigates allegations of police misconduct.

And investigations of misconduct can’t be kept secret, as they usually are now. Sanctions taken against officers must be published, just as sanctions against teachers are published.

What did the Henry Louis Gates study committee find? The committee found that both Gates and the police officer shared responsibility for what happened. “Both of the individuals contributed to the outcome unintentionally,” the committee’s chair told the Washington Post.

It’s worth trying to get at the truth — even if it’s uncomfortable for one or both sides.

Read the Washington Post story on the report.

Read the report, Missed Opportunities, Shared Responsibilities.