Is the Spitzer administration, apparently unable to remember the past, on its way to repeating it?
At the very least, the state Parole Board is suffering from a serious case of amnesia when it comes to New York’s violent felons – and one of the city’s most infamous cop killers may soon walk free because of it.
Nearly 35 years ago, Shuaib Raheem and his posse of militant Black Muslim gunmen took 11 hostages in a Brooklyn sporting-goods store, exchanging fire with cops for 47 hours and fatally wounding Officer Stephen Gilroy.
No wonder, then, that when a Parole Board panel decided last month to order Raheem’s release, it received vigorous protests not only from Gilroy’s family, but from Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, as well.
The panel now says it’s reconsidering the decision, but the final outcome is far from certain.
It would do well to listen to Kelly. Public safety and simple justice both demand that cop killers face the strictest punishment possible, regardless of any claims of “good behavior” – and even 35 years doesn’t cut it.
Unfortunately, Raheem’s possible release isn’t an isolated case.
As The Post reported Sunday, parole boards under Gov. Spitzer are releasing the state’s most violent felons at nearly twice the rate of the later Pataki years.
Of the murderers, robbers and their ilk who’ve had parole hearings this year, 14 percent have been set free – compared to only 8 percent in 2006.
In New York City alone, that’s 161 violent criminals prematurely back on the streets – and five of them, by the way, have already been re-arrested.
Make no mistake: Parole is an essential part of any criminal-justice system.
But Gov. George Pataki, to his credit, understood that one of the most effective ways to fight violent crime is simply to keep violent criminals behind bars – and that too many exceptions only serve to undermine the rule of law.
If his successor has yet to learn that lesson, the very success of New York’s ’90s-era tough-on-crime policies – at both the state and city level – may be to blame.
A decade of relatively safe streets has removed crime from the top of New Yorkers’ list of worries, and public sympathy has ever-so-gradually migrated from the victims of crime to the criminals themselves.
That’s just human nature.
But it must be resisted – not only by folks like Commissioner Kelly, but Gov. Spitzer, as well.
One can only hope that the governor understands how quickly New York can regress to the lawless ’70s and ’80s – where quality-of-life crimes were ignored, respect for the law eroded and, presently, the streets were unsafe even in broad daylight.
Spitzer’s Parole Board can start by leaving Shuaib Raheem locked up for a good while longer.
And the governor himself can make it clear to board members that violent criminals need to stay locked up for as long as the law allows.
Not a day less. Not one.