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RAND STUDY DUBIOUS

Rand Study Dubious

The Rand Corporation has completed its six-month study and now says that with the possible exception of a very small number of officers in South Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island, racial profiling is not a problem in the NYPD. The study did not attempt to explain why the use of force, such as a baton, occurred with greater frequency against blacks and Hispanics.

It seems that based solely on reports that are written by the officers who make the stops, Rand concludes the police department is generally race-neutral in its enforcement. But this means that if officers don't incriminate themselves on their own stop-and-frisk reports, their actions are presumed to be proper. Isn't that more than a little presumptuous?

I wonder if Rand interviewed young males in high-crime neighborhoods, just to get an idea of whether police officers are submitting stop-and-frisk reports for all or most of the stops, and whether the reports seem to jibe with the accounts of those who were stopped.

Let's hope they did better than lies, damned lies and statistics.

MICHAEL J. GORMAN

Editor's note: The writer is a retired NYPD Lieutenant and an attorney.