The Issue: The court-ordered release of another armed teen nabbed by cops employing stop-and-frisk.
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Another thug-in-training with a loaded gun who was legally caught using stop-and-frisk has been let go by judges whose brains even Indiana Jones could not find (“Dodge City Beckons,” Editorial, July 5).
But this thug’s mother dismissed his prior busts for robbery and grand larceny and refers to her little delinquent as “an all right kid.”
I wonder whether the judges would agree with her opinion if he were caught in front of their homes instead.
Robert T. Mruczek
Brooklyn
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I am ashamed at recent decisions to free armed and dangerous persons, regardless of their age.
I know first-hand that the appointment process for judges involves political ideologues.
Perhaps this is due to law-school curricula at many universities, New York’s extreme leftist bent or the ultra-liberal mind-set of the parents who reared these judges.
I feel for the NYPD, which has done an admirable job in dealing with crime and terrorism.
A.A. Stahl
Manhattan
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While the NYPD’s goal is to protect people by getting criminals off the streets, the purpose of liberal zealots is to push politically correct mandates from afar — and to hell with safety.
Police officers work in virtual war zones and cannot be expected to wait until they draw fire before acting.
If liberal minds do not understand this simple fact, they should relocate their families to the war zones and accompany police officers on tours of duty for a year.
Elio Valenti
Brooklyn
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My suggestion to opponents of stop-and-frisk is to remove the police patrol in high-crime neighborhoods for a weekend.
I guarantee it will be less than 24 hours before people are begging and crying in the streets for the NYPD to come back and save them from the crimes that follow.
It’s time to stop handcuffing the police, who are there to help the neighborhood.
C. Cassandro
Merrick
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I take exception to your headline, “Dodge City Beckons.” In Dodge City, the law-abiding citizens were armed and could defend themselves — so causing trouble could get you shot.
While there were surely bad guys around, most of the legend is due to dime novels, in which everyone was shooting up the place.
But as in the 40 or so “shall issue” carry-permit states, more legal guns means less crime.
Steve Becker
East Meadow
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“Dodge City Beckons” uses inapt anecdotes and fear of “punks” to smear judges who quash improper stops and searches. But when the law requires setting free the suspect, the judge is not to blame.
A “hunch” by cops is not a legal basis for a stop. Cops must have a “reasonable suspicion” that a person is or has been involved in a crime.
A proper frisk is for the protection of the cop; if he sees a bulge in the suspect’s jacket, for example, he may do a pat-down.
But random stops and frisks are a no-no. Something is manifestly wrong when our cops’ “hunches” — or quotas — ensnare hundreds of thousands of youths each year, and yet guns are found in less than a quarter of 1 percent of the stops.
The overwhelming majority of those stopped are innocent and have never been involved in crime.
The judges’ rulings remind us that in a free society, everyone’s liberty warrants judicial protection from unbridled and illegal police behavior.
If some actual “punks” are set free, that’s because, in some exceptional circumstances, cops follow their “hunches” and not the law.
Michael Meyers
Executive Director
NY Civil Rights Coalition
Manhattan