violent attacks into misdemeanors or norncrimes at all. At the other extreme, onrnJanuary 29, Newsday’s Leonard Levittrncharged that the city had failed to discloserna recent double-rape, a shootingrnhomicide, and the fatal shooting of arncar thief by a cop. Such nondisclosuresrnmesh with my own experience of arnshooting that officially never occurredrnon the A train last December 8. OnrnFebruary 8, NYPD Spokeswoman OfficerrnKathy Kelly insisted to me, “There’srnno shootings on the eighth.”rnThe crime report reduction policy hasrnenjoyed its greatest success with thosernwhose knowledge of crime is limited tornpress releases. In the December 1995rnCommentary, Irwin Stelzer celebrated arnpoll showing that 41 percent of residentsrnbelieved the city was safer. Most suchrn”suburban urbanites” live in buildingsrnwith 24-hour security. Some ride thernsubways only during rush hour, othersrnpay through the nose for segregated,rnslow-moving taxis, and yet others drivernto work.rnThe safest areas, however, are selfreliant,rnwhite, and immigrant workingclassrnneighborhoods, such as Brooklyn’srnBensonhurst, where I lived from 1986-rn94. For 30 years, activists have hinderedrnpolice in black areas with trumped-uprncharges of “excessive force” and “racialrninsensitivity” based on the premise thatrnno white officer may arrest a black suspect.rnIn truth, white cops are oftenrnguilty of excessive restraint. When yournhandcuff the police, people die. LastrnNew Year’s Eve in Sunset Park, Brooklyn,rnmy Puerto Rican host’s patrolman sonrnobserved that “in a rough neighborhood,rnyou gotta be rough with the people. Eitherrnyou’re gonna be in charge, or they’rerngonna be in charge.”rnFormer Commissioner Lee Brown’srnPR gimmick, “community policing,”rnportrayed cops in free-fire zones as socialrnworkers. Commissioner Bratton’s onlyrnreal improvement, the crackdown onrn”quality-of-life” offenses (e.g., panhandling,rnpublic drinking, and urination) isrnbeing undermined by left-wing judges.rnOn January 10, the Daily News’ MiguelrnGarcilazo noted a state court report’srnfinding that “nearly 70 percent of allrndesk appearance tickets issued by policernare either dismissed [in court] or that recipientsrnnever show up in court.” BronxrnDA and former judge Robert Johnson isrndismissing 25 percent of the summonses,rnbefore they ever get to court.rnJudicial incompetence is so commonplacernhere that federal Judge HaroldrnBaer had to outdo himself to gain nationalrnnotoriety with his decision in favorrnof some drug dealers last January. Policernhad observed a car with Michigan platesrnslowly circling a block in upper Manhattan’srnWashington Heights area again andrnagain, at 6:00 A.M. It hnally stopped inrnfront of an apartment building, fromrnwhich four young black men came out,rnand wordlessly packed two duffel bagsrn(containing 34 kilograms of cocaine andrntwo kilos of heroin) and then, dependingrnon whether you believe the confessedrndrug courier Carol Bayless or the cops,rneither walked away or ran. Volunteeringrnthat she had made over 20 such tripsrnsince 1991, Michigan resident Bayless alternatedrnbetween pleading that drugrnmoney was her “only means of survival”rnand bragging that she planned on buyingrna new Pontiac Grand Prix with herrn$20,000 courier pay.rnJudge Baer ruled that the $4 million inrncocaine and heroin police had seizedrnfrom the duffel bags were the fruits of anrnillegal search in violation of the FourthrnAmendment. Despite accepting the officers’rnclaim that the men had run awayrnupon spotting them, Baer noted thatrnsince police were known to be “corruptrnand violent” in Washington Heights, itrnwas only natural for locals to run away atrnthe sight of them. In the ensuing causerncelebre, even many left-wing journalistsrndeserted Judge Baer. Critics noted thatrnBaer, who lives in the luxurious CarnegiernHall district, had apparently confusedrnthe Heights’ relatively clean, “3-4″rnprecinct with Harlem’s corrupt, “dirtyrnthirty.” In the February 5 New York Post,rnJack Newfield quoted Detective JerryrnGiorgio as insisting of Judge Baer, “Hernwas writing out of pure fantasy and ignorance.rnHe referred to this neighborhoodrnas a black community, but it is predominantlyrnDominican.”rnInitially calling prosecutors’ attemptsrnto change his mind a “juvenile project,”rnJudge Baer finally yielded to intense pressurernfrom none other than Bill Clinton,rnrescinded his initial decision, and allowedrnthe seized drugs to be entered asrnevidence.rnCop-bashing judges have lots ofrnhelpers. Since the Civilian ComplaintrnReview Board (CCRB) went all-civilianrnin July 1993, complaints against “thernjob” have risen 50 percent. While keepingrnits telephone number unlisted and itsrnfindings secret, the CCRB’s supportersrnseek the independent investigative powersrnof a counter-police. Last spring,rnCCRB staffer Lizette Navarro wasrncaught making false “911” calls, reportingrnnonexistent “assaults in progress” at arnWest Village gay bar. (Only Navarro wasrnfired, and neither she nor her boss was arrested.)rnSpeaking with me last Februaryrn13, pro-Dinkins CCRB spokesman JoernCatrambone denied that the board hasrnan anti-cop bias, and blamed the rise inrncivilian complaints on an “in-your-face”rnattitude he said Giuliani and Brattonrnhad instilled in police. The Navarro casernraised the specter of a gay activist-CCRBrnconspiracy to set up officers. The copbashing,rngay activist New York Times refusedrnto grant the scandal even a cursoryrnreference. Note that cop-hating gaysrnare guaranteed a response to all attacksrnagainst them, as bias crimes.rnEncouraged by Eric Adams (the leaderrnof the segregated, black officers’ fraternalrnorganization), the Guardians, and byrnaffirmative action, some young blackrncops are rankled by arrests of “brothers”rnfor crimes against whites. A psychiatristrnwho screens Police Academy recruitsrnlaments, “It’s incredible, the pressure tornpass people, just because they’re minorities.rnIt’s all racial. They push, push, pushrnwith people who are inappropriate andrnare often antisocial themselves.” Blackrnthugs, however, do not always return thernsolidarity. In October 1992, a black policemanrnwas assaulted in front of Bedford-rnStuyvesant’s Medgar Evers Collegernby a student he had caught smokingrnmarijuana. Cop-hating Brooklyn CouncilwomanrnUna Clarke and Evers’ presidentrngot the student and his street scholarrnaccomplices released the same night.rnProsecutors do what they can. In Junern1993, an 18-year-old black girl, emboldenedrnby her girlfriend and the ten blackrnand Hispanic young men surroundingrnme, called me racial epithets before tryingrnto “shank” me in the face with a scissorsrnin Greenwich Village’s West FourthrnStreet station. My bloody hand, a corroboratingrnwitness, and a satisfied crimescenernlieutenant failed to impress arnyoung, white prosecutor named Kunkel.rnAdmitting he only took taxis at night.rnAssistant District Attorney Kunkel thundered,rn”Because of you, two black girisrnspent a night in jail!” (He suggested Irnwas a racist who swore out false complaintsrnagainst blacks.) Upon hearing myrnstory, a black bus driver who had fledrnBrooklyn for New Jersey asked knowingly,rn”Did you bring a law’er?”rnAccording to the Washington-basedrn40/CHRONICLESrnrnrn