Case of Officer Michael Daragjati doesn’t tarnish NYPD stop-and-question program
Tuesday, October 18, 2011, 4:00 AM
The federal civil rights charges filed against NYPD Officer Michael Daragjati - that he falsely arrested a black man on Staten Island because of his race - are deeply disturbing.
While proof awaits, they paint Daragjati as a contemptible bad-seed cop unfit for duty with the Police Department.
According to the complaint, Daragjati and a partner stopped the man, identified as John Doe, in Stapleton in April, told him to raise his hands, frisked him and found nothing.
Objecting to how he had been treated, the man demanded Daragjati's name and badge number and voiced insults. Daragjati and the partner then handcuffed him and, according to investigators, concocted a story that the man had resisted arrest as a pretext for locking him up.
Still more damning, federal prosecutors said they caught Daragjati on tape saying of a court appearance: "I sat there for a couple of hours by the time I got it all done but, fried another n----r. ... Another n----r fried, no big deal."
Dead, dead wrong. Those disgusting words are a huge deal.
If accurately related, they convict Daragjati of stone-cold racism in the wrongful application of the law - and they will serve to undermine the NYPD's program of stopping, questioning and sometimes frisking people who are seen as acting suspiciously.
The vast majority of the stops take place in minority neighborhoods, and 85% of those questioned are black or Hispanic - giving rise to accusations that the policy unfairly targets minorities. Ignored is the fact that racial and ethnic composition generally matches that of individuals reported to have committed crimes.
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer led the calls yesterday for scrapping the program because of the Daragjati case. He was premature, wrongheaded and unfair to all the fine NYPD officers who call it as they see it every day, regardless of race.
There are fewer guns on the street thanks to the stop-and-question program. High-handed dismissals like Stringer's offer no alternatives other than to "be tougher on crime by being smarter on crime" and to "work to bridge the divide" between police and people in the areas they patrol.
Take it from us: A guy carrying a gun in his pocket is not interested in bridging any divide.