Opinion

Begging for more crime

Crime rises and falls, sometimes unpredictably — but it’s clear which way it’ll go if Gov. Paterson signs one bill on his desk right now: straight up.

That bill, sponsored by Sen. Eric Adams and Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, would force cops to ditch a vital database of information about suspects stopped under the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk program.

Paterson has until Saturday to veto it.

If he doesn’t, expect trouble.

Under stop-and-frisk, cops question individuals who act suspiciously or fit descriptions of crime suspects. The NYPD retains some data on the suspects, using it to solve or prevent other crimes.

Jeffries and Adams may have forgotten about Gotham’s Dodge City days some 20 years ago.

Or maybe they just don’t care.

They pretend the database is racist — or an intolerable infringement on privacy rights. In fact, the info it contains, and the steep drops in crime, have benefited minority communities in particular.

In the last year alone, for instance, the database helped identify assailants in attacks on two Hispanic men and a gay man. It also played a key role in an arrest in an attempted murder case.

Alas, Jeffries and Adams aren’t alone: On Tuesday, all five Democratic candidates for attorney general backed their bill. The wannabes should be ashamed.

And Paterson should veto the bill.