The Post Subtly Advocates For Stop and Frisk Database

Photograph of Governor Paterson signing legislation to end the stop-and-frisk database from the governor's office

Last week, after much debate, Governor Paterson signed legislation that stopped the NYPD from accumulating and keeping the controversial stop-and-frisk database that has existed for nearly a decade. Mayor Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly adamantly argued for its effectiveness in crime prevention, with Bloomberg saying, "We didn't lose. The people who are going to lose are the victims...The proponents of the bill are in neighborhoods where crime is high, and we're trying desperately to protect the people who live in those communities—and they've just taken away one of the tools."

But the stop-and frisk-database has another pushy advocate who is neither a police official nor a crime-fighter: The NY Post! The beloved tabloid has published two related stories since the legislation passed, both focusing on the 10% of cases where the database was cited as having been useful, painting a black and white portrait of effective policing that leaves out any discussion of the complexities of the issue, such as the fact that 87% of those stopped are black or Latino.

But the proof is in the anecdotal pudding to them in citing the case of Ricardo Salinas, a 33-year-old cook who was robbed and killed nearly four years ago by three teens in Staten Island. Detectives located the killers the next day because patrol cops had detained them the night of the September 2, 2006 crime and entered their names on the stop and frisk register. Salinas' widow said, "The stop-and-frisk law definitely helped in capturing the men responsible for killing my husband...I was told this kind of crime never gets solved or takes a lot of time to get solved."

State Senator Martin Golden, a former NYPD cop, thinks the new law jeopardizes the safety of New Yorkers who don't remember their history lessons: "I guess they forgot the 1970s and the 1980s, when no one wanted to come to New York and when families were afraid to ride the subway, walk the streets and enjoy living in the greatest city in the world," said Golden. Strangely, the most reasonable person in this whole debate seems like Gov. Paterson, who said the "warehousing of the personal data of innocent people" only belongs in a police state: "Maybe it might work in Bosnia. Maybe that might work in Somalia. Maybe that might have worked in the Soviet Union or in '1984.' But we can't allow it to happen here."

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By Ben Yakas in News on July 19, 2010 4:20 PM

Comments [rss]

blink

The people who strongly advocate stop and frisk will never be stopped and frisked.

John L

After watching him in action, taking on the senate and pushing his budget through and enacting commonsense legislature such as this, I'm starting to think David Paterson might have been a great governor. If only the Democratic party wouldn't have destroyed him because he didn't bow down to King Cuomo II. What they did to him was deplorable, they smeared him and destroyed his character until he finally relented and quit the race. Had the Democrats supported Paterson who knows what kind od leadership he could have provided. I can't think of a governor who has had to deal with a more hostile tenure from both his own party and the Republicans and is still standing. All the calls for his resignation and he's still here! Aside from that he pushed through the most fiscally responsible and prudent budget this state has seen in years, cutting millions in pork. He's performed so well that Cuomo himself has been forced to applaud the very tough decisions he's had to make. I'm really impressed.

Too bad most New Yorkers fall for the propaganda these media outlets disperse at the urgence of the political kingmakers in this city because, and I never thought I'd say this, Paterson could've really been one of the great ones.

bashmentgirl

The NY Post is $0.25. You get what you pay for.

jaycjay

"The people who are going to lose are the victims...The proponents of the bill are in neighborhoods where crime is high"

Right. And the people who have been innocent victims of "stop and frisk" are exactly the same people who are innocent victims of crime in those neighborhoods.

If they saw this as mitigating crime, they'd probably support it. But these anecdotal stories do not prove that the practice has impacted crime rates at all. What it has done is give the innocent people living in those neighborhoods one more negative thing to deal with.

jaycjay

Actually, it's been at 50 cents for at least a year. So, no, you don't get what you pay for.

Wza

NY Post also supported Dubya.

JacqueMehoff

are the sore losers still on this?

guess what, you had your chance, you really thought your fear mongering would work this time. guess what? it didn't.

are they bringing in heather macdonald again and again.

what I don't like along with the stop and frisk is how they're finding witnesses with that data. but no, the blue wall still stands.