Opinion

Stopping stop-and-frisk: Starting a crime wave?

The Issue: Whether a judge’s ruling against the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk practice will increase crime.

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I respectfully disagree with Police Commissioner Ray Kelly’s prediction that crime will rise if stop-and-frisk is ended (“‘No Question — Crime’ll Go Up,’” Aug. 19).

Other cities that don’t use stop-and-frisk have experienced declines in their crime rates, too.

Kelly’s overzealous application of the procedure reminds me of the proverbial use of a cannon to kill a fly.

He has used these overreaching and insensitive measures in other ways. Much of my neighborhood, which is next to police headquarters, is still burdened by the closure of Park Row and many downtown streets, ostensibly for security reasons, when other, less intrusive measures would work. John Ost

Manhattan

As a retired cop, I can say that stop-and-frisk is an essential part of community policing that keeps the streets of New York safe.

The mayor is right in blasting the federal judge who wants the practice to stop.

Stop-and-frisk is a lifesaver. A thug will not carry a weapon because he knows a NYPD cop will stop and frisk him. People on the streets say they feel safer when they see a cop frisking a suspect. It is a cop doing his job.

Who is this judge to tell the police how to do their jobs?

She should be taken on a ride-along so she can see firsthand what policing is all about.

Louis Dominguez

Warrenton, Va.

Missing from The Post’s relentless articles in defense of stop-and-frisk is any recognition of the abusive manner in which many stops have been handled.

The debate isn’t necessarily whether or not to ban the practice, but how to prevent handcuffing of crying teenagers, and scruffy plainclothes cops bursting from unmarked cars and slamming terrified pedestrians down, or forcibly searching the bra and panties of a 22-year-old woman who aroused suspicions when she bent down to pet a cat.

That the mayor can’t understand this is why he has always been unfit for leadership in a democratic society. He needs to buy himself a country where he can be dictator.

Scott Kashkin

Passaic, NJ

Columnist Thomas Reppetto, Ray Kelly and other stop-and-frisk advocates are crying wolf over the federal judge’s decision. Their cries about blood in the streets are the same excuses law enforcement used after the Miranda decision and the Supreme Court’s denial of evidence gathered from illegal searches and coerced confessions.

It should insult every American that stop-and-frisk supporters believe the only way to keep a community safe is by violating the rights of their fellow citizens who happen to be people of color. Calvin Hill

Cambria Heights