NO PLACE FOR SHOCK COPS

No Place for Shock Cops

Three city cops - two of them Sergeants - have been accused of doing their worst Don Imus impersonations by referring to female colleagues as "nappy-headed hos."

There's no way to know at this point whether the claims - filed by three black officers and one Latina cop with the NYPD's Office of Equal Employment Opportunity - are valid, although the Police Department has already stripped one of the Sergeants of his command and his supervisory role. But if any cops out there are inclined to protest Mr. Imus's firing by repeating the words that got him canned, they ought to consider a few things.

First of all, while there are legitimate questions about whether the talk-show host should have been canned and whether the motives of his employers went beyond pure business considerations, there is no disputing that his comments about the women's basketball team at Rutgers were racist, sexist and deplorable. A man capable of great wit and intelligence spoke like a low-grade moron because he had gotten away with other boorish behavior in the past, and this time it caught up to him.

Mr. Imus may well find himself with other lucrative radio employment in the not-too-distant future. Cops who get canned for similar walks on the idiotic side are unlikely to be as lucky. And as city employees in an agency that cannot tolerate the perception that there are racists or sexists in its midst, they do not have the same speech rights as shock jocks or ordinary citizens.

It would be pleasant but unrealistic to believe that all of New York's Finest are beyond harboring the kind of sentiments that Mr. Imus uttered and three cops are accused of mimicking. Those who get a kick out of such thoughts but aren't looking to commit career suicide would be wise to heed the words of Archie Bunker and stifle themselves.