To explain those staggeringly lower crime rates one needs look no further that Giuliani's innovative and aggressive policing policy that instructs the police to combat all crimes both large and small. As order has been returned to the city the notion that crime is a normal fact of lie had faded and with it crime has fallen further. Again, Giuliani's critics charge that all this crime fighting has come at the expense of the cities minority groups who are now routinely harassed by an overzealous police force. Yet instances of police shooting have fallen by a third since the beginning of Giuliani's administration. So it's nearly impossible to view the Diallo shooting as part of a trend towards aggressive policing in New York City.
Critics focus only on the negative, but it is the positive that is really compelling.
The drop in crime most benefits New York's minority populations who are the most frequent victims of violent crime. Further, the rapid drops in crime have enticed investors to pour money into the once economically neglected minority communities in Harlem and Brooklyn, thereby providing services and jobs to many of the city's minority residents. The Diallo shooting was a ghastly event in the history of New York City policing. But evidence of endemic racism in the NYPD stemming from Giuliani s policies is lacking, while the evidence of economic growth and physical safety provided by those policies is overwhelming. With Al Sharpton at the helm of the black community, one can only hope these facts will not be lost on New York citizens.