Suddenly, the NYPD didn't mind letting plain street cops make low-level drug busts. Suddenly, it didn't mind hauling pistol-packing thugs off to jail. And suddenly, communities began to bloom and grow where they had withered before. Cops targeted blacks and Hispanics disproportionately, even when you account for higher crime rates in many of their neighborhoods. Then came the death of Diallo-who was hit by 19 of the 41 shots that four Street Crime cops fired at him.
Reasonable people can believe that the officers are innocent of criminal acts.
I happen to think that myself. Something is really rotten here. The whole thing reeks. To hide some explosive administrative mistakes, the NYPD has decided to hand out token punishment to four street cops and move on-at least that's the way it looks. You don't hear Giuliani call press conferences to brag about his victories in these areas.