Originally Published:Friday, July 16th 2010, 11:46 AM
Updated: Friday, July 16th 2010, 12:08 PM
Gov. Paterson Friday signed into law the controversial stop and frisk legislation that forces the NYPD to delete the names of people questioned - but not arrested - from its electronic database.
More than 2.5 million such encounters have been logged into the database since 2004, with police calling it a vital tool in fighting crime.
But critics have long contended it's an assault on a generation of minorities.
"Not every police procedure contributes to the lowering of crime," Paterson said. "This procedure is a prime example of that."
The NYPD lobbied furiously for Paterson to veto the bill.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly met twice with Paterson, pushing the
governor to spike the legislation.
He even tried to broker a compromise, suggesting the names be kept for a year before being purged.
But Paterson said such a database is un-American.
Kelly tried to sway Paterson by presenting a list of 178 crimes -- including 17 murders -- in which arrests were made with the use of the database.
Paterson, however, said "not one of them substantiates" the need for the database.
Mayor Bloomberg in his weekly radio interview today said the real losers are crime victims.
"It's hard to argue there's any damage done if we have the data, but even if it only helps you solve one crime and it helps you solve a lot more, to not have it just doesn't make any sense," Bloomberg said.
"And you know, the proponents of the bill are in neighborhoods where crime is high and we're trying desperately to keep and protect the people who live in those communities.
"And they've just taken away one of the tools," he added.
One of bill's sponsors, State Sen. Eric Adams, a former NYPD captain, said he doesn't want his son and other young black men to fear police because they feel targeted.
"That is not effective policing," Adams said. "This is not Soweto [South Africa].
"This is America."
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