Bob Friedrich’s July 12-18 column criticizing the Community Safety Act was misleading and inflammatory.
The act will bring much-needed accountability and transparency to the NYPD, which will improve relations between police officers and the communities they are sworn to serve. It is about ensuring that police treat all New Yorkers — regardless of their race, gender, religion, etc. — with courtesy, professionalism and respect.
Contrary to Friedrich’s bluster, these common sense reforms will not prevent police officers from stopping an individual they legitimately suspect is engaged in criminal activity. They will require police officers to base law enforcement decisions on an individual’s behavior, not his or her skin color.
This will enhance public safety. In supporting these meaningful solutions to discriminatory policing, City Councilman Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens) and 33 of his colleagues took a firm stand for New Yorkers’ civil rights and improving the quality of policing in our city.
They must reject the scare tactics and misinformation spread by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and opponents of reform and secure this victory for reform.
Candis Tolliver
Briarwood
