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Re "Judge Rejects New York's Stop-and-Frisk Policy" (front page, Aug. 13):
Judge Shira A. Scheindlin was absolutely correct when she ruled that New York's stop-and-frisk program violated the Constitution as to the Fourth Amendment rights of individuals. The ruling was a stinging blow to the arrogant Michael R. Bloomberg, whose aim, before leaving office, seems to be focused on depriving New Yorkers of their individual liberties.
There is nothing wrong with the basic premise of stop-and-frisk, if it is applied fairly across all segments of the population. The number of actual arrests compared with the number of stops is laughingly low, and the barometer the police have used in making those stops is clearly biased and focused on poor neighborhoods and minorities.
Peter L. Zimroth is an excellent choice to establish and monitor appropriate and effective reforms that will make stop-and-frisk an effective crime-fighting tool, while also protecting all New Yorkers from racial bias.
HENRY A. LOWENSTEIN
New York, Aug. 13, 2013
To the Editor:
It's hard to say which is more troubling: a federal judge finding widespread racial profiling and unconstitutional stop-and-frisks, or the seeming lack of a meaningful remedy. A designated monitor and a handful of body-worn cameras are too limited to do much by way of reforming the habits of almost 35,000 police officers.
More than 50 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that the best way to deter the police from engaging in illegal searches was for trial courts to hold pretrial suppression hearings, subject the arresting officer to cross-examination and to exclude any illegally obtained evidence from the accused's trial.
With close to 1,000 arrests each day filling the Criminal Court, there is ample opportunity for judges daily to evaluate the constitutionality of police behavior. Instead, the Criminal Court focuses exclusively on rampant guilty pleas such that police behavior is rarely subject to judicial scrutiny.
A foreseeable result is the unchecked police conduct exposed in federal court. Unless and until the Criminal Court takes seriously its role as overseer of the police and enforcer of constitutional rights, any remedy fashioned in federal court is doomed to fail.
STEVEN ZEIDMAN
Long Island City, Queens, Aug. 13, 2013
The writer is a professor at the CUNY School of Law.
To the Editor:
Re "Racial Discrimination in Stop-and-Frisk" (editorial, Aug. 13):
You need to do some old-fashioned utilitarian calculations on the relative pleasures and pains associated with stop-and-frisk. How much humiliation and ill will caused by the practice counterbalances the value of a life preserved by the confiscation of an illegal gun?
Further, to be unconstitutional, a search must be "unreasonable." It is not clear that searching a person apparently trying to conceal his identity and having a bulge under his coat in a high-crime neighborhood would be unreasonable.
Finally, you write that "88 percent of the 4.4 million stops resulted in no further action — meaning a vast majority of those stopped were doing nothing wrong." But a medical test that detected a lethal but potentially curable disease 12 percent of the time would be considered a major contribution to public health.
DAVID S. HODES
Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., Aug. 13, 2013
The writer is a retired pediatrician.
To the Editor:
Virtually every police vehicle in New York City carries the slogan "Courtesy, Professionalism, Respect." Is it not a fair question to ask how a policy of stop-and-frisk squares with that commendable slogan?
MALCOLM CARTER
New York, Aug. 13, 2013
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