Tough-on-Crime Stance Is No License for Police Abuse

The New York Police Department garnered international acclaim by recording one of the most remarkable reductions ever in serious crime in a major city. One of the impressed was Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, and who could blame him? Why couldn’t Los Angeles emulate that success?

In New York, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s approach, in part, involved aggressive suppression of so-called quality-of-life crimes (public drunkenness, disturbing the peace, panhandling by intimidation and the like). The idea was to prevent more serious crimes by establishing a reputation for strict and relentless patrolling. The numbers were so impressive (murders and robberies down by 49% and 42% respectively in just four years) that questions and concerns were easily dismissed.

Sharp increases in claims of police misconduct and excessive force against the NYPD were explained away. And when Amnesty International followed up its earlier criticisms of police in Los Angeles and Chicago with a scathing report on New York last summer, it received the old Bronx cheer.

But the gruesome details of alleged aggravated sexual abuse and assault against a Haitian immigrant inside a Brooklyn police station Aug. 9 has given New York officials pause.

“Something is wrong. And whether it’s by omission or by a wink or by a word, too many police officers think that they can engage in and get away with police misconduct or brutality,” Police Commissioner Howard Safir said afterward.

That raises an important question: When cities effectively decide to release the reins on police, how do they guard against problem officers who get the wrong message?

Here, Police Chief Bernard C. Parks told The Times Monday that tight supervision and accountability were the answers. “Aggressiveness toward crime doesn’t mean that we abuse citizens,” Parks said, adding that it’s important to begin to track officers as complaints arise, not after several have been lodged. He’s right.

In New York, the response has been swift. Four officers have been arrested. The precinct’s leaders have had to turn in their guns and badges, and anyone who failed to report the alleged assault has been threatened with dismissal. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating. Still, one can’t help but wonder whether an incident like this might have been prevented, had a bit more attention been paid to those concerned about possible abuse of the NYPD’s new mandate. In admiring what the NYPD has accomplished in cutting crime, Los Angeles would do well to also consider the lessons that could be drawn from the horrific violations that apparently took place inside a Brooklyn precinct house full of officers of the law.