Ray Kelly on NYPD Bill: ‘Take Heart, Al-Qaida Wannabes’

Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned on Monday that New York City will be the “laughing stock of the world” if it goes along with proposals to backpedal on crime-fighting tactics such as “stop-and-frisk,” which have drawn fire from minority groups.

Bloomberg, who credits tougher police tactics with the city’s historic 34 percent drop in crime over a decade, slammed two “community safety” bills that the City Council looks set to pass this week. One would establish an independent inspector-general with broad authority to investigate police practices, and a second discourages discriminatory profiling.

Bloomberg, flanked by Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and several district attorneys, said the Inspector General bill would entitle gang members to make anonymous complaints about policing, while an increase in discrimination claims would tie up officers in court and take them off the streets.

“New Yorkers must have policing that respects everyone’s rights, including everyone’s right to be safe on the streets,” he said. “This is life and death we are talking about.”

Last May, the New York Civil Liberties Union released statistics showing police stops have surged from 160,851 in 2003 to 685,724 in 2011. About half of the 2011 stops resulted in physical searches.

Bloomberg argues that most stops happen in poor areas because that is where most crime unfolds.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who has called stop-and-frisk a cornerstone of successful policing, said the bills would embolden criminals and other would-be attackers.

“Take heart, al-Qaeda wannabes,” said Kelly said, who remains one of the city’s most popular officials.

This article appeared in print on page 18 of the June 26th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.