Michael Goodwin

Michael Goodwin

US News

Sun mustn’t set on a safe NYC

Like clockwork, the e-mail arrives each Monday afternoon. Its subject line is spare and to the point: “WEEKLY UPDATE ON MURDERS AND SHOOTINGS IN NEW YORK CITY.”

The e-mail comes from Mayor Bloomberg’s office, and, like Sgt. Joe Friday always wanted, it just reports the facts, ma’am. It starts by noting that 2012 “saw the lowest number of murders and the lowest number of shootings at any time since comparable records were kept, with 419 murders and 1,374 shootings.” Then it gives the latest totals, to show how 2013 compares to the same time a year ago.

Bloomberg started the practice last August, at the height of Democratic mayoral candidates’ attacks on the NYPD over stop-and-frisk. A federal court ruling the same month called the tactic unconstitutional, and two City Council bills passed, one appointing an inspector general for the department and another banning racial profiling.

Bloomberg has never commented on the e-mails, an aide says, but the falling crime they invariably cite shouts out a defense of the cops and Commissioner Ray Kelly. The mayor’s office later got the federal ruling stayed, and an appeals court took the unusual action of removing Judge Shira Scheindlin from the case.

But come Jan 1, the world will change as Bloomberg and Kelly ride off into the sunset. Their record goes with them, but it leaves behind enormous pressure on their successors, Bill de Blasio and Bill Bratton.

As an added reminder of what they’re up against, the new guys would be wise, and brave, to keep the weekly update coming.

It is a simple one-page document, and yet it is also the most profound accountability tool ever used by a mayor and police commissioner. It lets the whole world know how the department is doing at preventing crime. Another new feature, a map showing where the most serious crimes are committed down to the block level, will add to the pressure.

The package will force de Blasio to make choices and be held accountable for them. Because he was the chief critic of the NYPD, he’ll need some way to remind cops he’s still interested in results. Otherwise, he may find that the combination of his attacks, a potential federal monitor and the new inspector general will make cops too risk-averse.

Bratton raised that issue in a speech last month to the Gate­stone Institute, before he was picked to succeed Kelly.

He said that criminality soared in New York in the 1980s in part because past corruption scandals had made the police more interested in “staying out of trouble” than in keeping the peace.

It was part of what he called a ­“de-policing” movement, with dis­astrous results.

Bratton, of course, is no shrinking violet when it comes to accountability. He was the first commissioner to use the CompStat program under Mayor Rudy Giuliani, an innovative tool designed to hold precinct and borough commanders responsible. With up-to-the-minute reports displayed in an auditorium, he and his team made an art form of cross-examining field commanders about their plans for reducing crime.

The reports are no longer a department secret. By putting out the weekly comparisons, Bloom­berg and Kelly have set a new public standard.

By that measure, last week was a very good one. As Monday’s ­e-mail put it, “Through Sunday, December 8th, New York City has seen 80 fewer murders than at this point last year: 316 murders in 2013 compared with 396 murders in 2012 — a decrease of 20.2 percent.”

There was good news on shootings, too. Through last Sunday, there were “259 fewer total shootings than at this point last year: 1,049 shootings in 2013 compared with 1,308 shootings in 2012, a decrease of 19.8 percent.”

Numbers that good are comfort food. We’ll know soon whether the new team accepts the challenge of going public with its performance.

Spineless vs. Iran

If you believe the bipartisan push for another turn of the sanctions screw on Iran is dangerous, you are either (1) Barack Obama or (2) a member of The New York Times editorial board.

Either way, you are wrong. Somebody must draw a red line and mean it if there is any hope of preventing an Iranian nuke.

Which is why yesterday’s Times editorial reads like a parody in defending the president. It inadvertently shows the extent to which reality must be distorted to see the interim deal with Iran as good for America and our allies.

The piece denounces additional sanctions as dangerous because “Iran and the White House have warned that such legislation could be fatal.” It approvingly quotes Iran’s foreign minister as saying the “entire deal is dead” if the legislation passes.

Think about that. The Times is citing a foreign threat as the reason why Congress should sit down and shut up. Silly me, I thought Congress was there to express the will of Americans. Apparently, its job is to express the will of the murderous mullahs.

Imagine if Israel had threatened America that way. Oh, the Gray Lady’s blood would boil then, wouldn’t it?

Wait, it gets worse. Obama is making the same argument as the Times, telling Congress to butt out of his deal with Iran.

The mind meld between president and paper is either a freak of nature or one side taking dictation from the other. No matter, the deal as written is a bad one and Congress must put some backbone into the US position.

Added sanctions could do that by giving Iran an incentive to make a final deal instead of using the six months to wear down the existing enforcement while continuing the march toward nuclear weapons.

Obama’s resistance to more sanctions reveals his bended-knee approach. He craves a deal, any deal, that will allow him to say, as Neville Chamberlain infamously did, that he has achieved peace in our time.

Chamberlain’s wasn’t peace, and this one isn’t either. It’s appeasement that will lead to an Iranian nuke and perhaps a nuclear war.

Pass the sanctions.

Obama’s scandal-master intrigue

How much danger does the White House see over the ObamaCare disaster? Consider this fact from stories on John Podesta’s hiring as counsel: His claim to fame is that he helped guide Bill Clinton through the Monica Lewinsky and impeachment scandals. Hmmm. Maybe Obama’s team knows something we don’t.

Statue of imitations

It would be a shame to waste the Lenin statue that anti-Russian demonstrators pulled down in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev. What with New York’s new mayor taking over next month, the old Commie would be right at home on the steps of City Hall. Maybe a special tax on the rich could pay the shipping costs.ssss

Bad Korea move

Dopey headline of the day, from the Financial Times:

“Kim’s purge suggests trouble is brewing in North Korea”

Yes, because everything has been great until now.