Anti-cop radicals – the New York Civil Liberties Union, The New York Times, the Rev. Al Sharpton – won’t be happy ’til every last cop is off the streets (and maybe behind bars).
Their latest gripe: Between January and March, police stopped a few more folks than during the same period a year ago, including what the activists term a disproportionate share of blacks.
Critics seem to think that, in the wake of the Sean Bell shooting by cops and the cops’ acquittal, police should just stop doing their jobs – lest some folks (criminals?) get upset.
“There’s a lot of anger right now in the wake of the Bell verdict about racial profiling, and these numbers are just going to inflame that,” says the NYCLU’s Christopher Dunn. “What affects most black New Yorkers are not police shootings, but stop and frisks.”
The Times says police stops have become “an emotional flashpoint.”
And Sharpton says they’ll be an issue in coming days; he’s planned several protests, starting today, in response to the Bell verdict.
Now, it’s true that the number of stops rose to 145,098 in the first three months of this year, from 134,029 in the same period in 2007 – an 8 percent up-tick. But it’s also true that last year’s number, 468,932, marked an 8 percent drop from 508,540 the year before.
What to make of this?
Nothing – except that the numbers vary each year, sometimes going up, sometimes down, no doubt in connection with police response to crime trends.
So Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly never told cops to ease up on fighting crime.
Good for those two.
“A politically correct reaction to the Bell trial might be to cut back on police and civilian interaction,” said City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., who released the figures. “But to the mayor’s and the police commissioner’s credit, they have not done that.” Exactly.
Nor is there any evidence of bias. The data “show a relationship between the percentage of individuals stopped and the descriptions of suspects,” an NYPD spokesman, Assistant Chief Michael Collins, explained. In other words, the cops stop people who match the descriptions (race included) reported for criminals.
Of course, no one should be surprised by the allegations of racism – or even wacky suggestions for police, in essence, to disband as a result of the Bell verdict.
Remember how the Times went on a tear last year after cops arrested some 30 black and Hispanic kids who were apparently on their way to the funeral of a slain gang leader known as “Fresh”?
At the time, there were reports of imminent violence. The kids wore t-shirts linked to the gang. So when they gathered (without a permit) and began stomping on cars, cops moved in.
Police overreach? Well, consider this: Last week, a killer said to be wearing a “Team Fresh” gang t-shirt fatally stabbed an 18-year-old who was standing his own front porch. Isn’t it a pity that the killer didn’t encounter a stop-and-frisk team on his way to the scene of the crime?
Taken another way: How many young men didn’t fall victim to weapons confiscated by the teams? A lot, we’d guess.
If cops stand down, as critics demand, it’ll be welcome back crime and chaos.
And good-bye, peaceful New York.