Skewed stats aren’t enough to prove bias

Malverne, L.I.: To Voicers Jim Carney and Fran Bocignone: Thank you both for your letters. I can certainly attest that your observations in regard to Bob Gangi’s op-ed on Aug. 16 (“The NYPD is still over-policing Black and Latino men“) are well-informed and that your concerns are valid. In my view, the issue isn’t necessarily the statistical accuracy of Gangi’s numbers, but how they’re framed and interpreted. Although I’m not privy to all the data he’s analyzing, I believe he may be comparing apples to oranges.

As a former NYPD crime analysis sergeant with seven years of experience in that role, I never observed the patterns he describes. A proper analysis should first consider the types and locations of the crimes leading to arrests, and whether police deployment corresponds with reported crime. The demographics of those arrests should then be compared with the demographics of the specific precincts where they occur — not simply with the citywide population, since there are precincts in the city where a majority of the population are people of color.

Police are deployed where complaints and crimes are reported. Residents of communities of color, like everyone else, want safe neighborhoods and often request police presence when they experience crime. Therefore, arrest patterns may reflect where crime occurs and where police are deployed rather than demographic bias. In my experience, the full context behind the numbers is essential before drawing conclusions about bias.

Dave Kalin

Bias articulated

Brooklyn: The comment by Voicer Fran Bocignone alleging the reason for the over-policing of Black and Latino men is “because they are the ones committing most of the crimes” is astonishingly hateful, racist and wrong. Is this how she feels about her neighbors on Staten Island? Does she clutch her purse and pearls at the mere sight of a Black or Latino man? Attitudes like hers are what drives some of this behavior in the first place. Over-policing results in profiling and then manifests into large numbers of unneeded stops and detainments of Black and Latino men, leading to the large number of media reports of crime. Whatever the reason, she’s plain wrong, and possibly living in the wrong city for this kind of perspective.

Wanda Peakes

Shameful statements

Brooklyn: To Voicer Fran Bocignone: Wow! Can you be any more blatantly racist? Well, you’re an Italian from Staten Island and most likely a Brooklyn transplant, so I answered my own question. How do you like the biased assumptions? It’s such a shame and a disgrace that demon-spawn Donny has made it so acceptable for outright racism, Islamophobia and hate. It’s almost a badge of honor for MAGA. Just look at how our mayor has been treated, especially regarding the 9/11 ceremony. I’m ashamed and embarrassed to say that people such as Bocignone are New Yorkers and neighbors.

Susan Cassano

Futuristic frights

Yonkers: Voicer Dorothy Krasiker asks if anyone remembers HAL in “2001: A Space Odyssey.” What about Skynet and the Terminators created by Cyberdyne Systems? Is anyone nervous yet?

Mark Bloom

Grudge GM

Scarsdale, N.Y.: The article “Alonso’s emotional Citi Field return proves Mets made the wrong move” (Sept. 15) says Mets general manager David Stearns declined to comment on why. I think the answer is the 2024 National League Wild Card Series. Pete Alonso hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to eliminate the Brewers. Stearns had helped put that Brewers team together. I think this is why he’s had a chip on his shoulder about Alonso. Stearns was so into that team that the three Brewers pitchers the Mets faced in that playoff were all on the Mets this year until the Mets traded Freddy Peralta. The Mets are touting their young players for next season, but when was the last time a homegrown Met stayed and finished his career with the team? With Stearns letting Alonso go, the prospect is even less.

Tony Garcia

Price of victory?

Stratford, Conn.: How much did the producers of “Widow’s Bay” pay the Emmy judges for 14 wins in the recent awards? Not bad for a show not watched by anyone I know!

Peter Sulzicki

His own team

Brooklyn: President Trump now claims that the attempt on his life by Thomas Crooks in Butler, Pa. was part of a Democratic plot to remove him from the 2024 presidential campaign and accuses former FBI Director Christopher Wray of complicity in the matter. Apparently, Trump forgets that Wray is a staunch, blue-blood Republican, and that Crooks was a registered Republican from a heavily pro-Trump section of Pennsylvania. And why should Crooks have been on the radar of the FBI? He was a non-entity with no criminal record who never made any threats toward Trump or any other political figure. His motives for the attempted assassination remain unknown. This is clearly yet another effort by Trump to smear Democrats before the November elections.

Dennis Middlebrooks

Last-ditch efforts

Woods Cross, Utah: As the November election draws near, the grifts fabricated by our 47th president are getting more urgent and outrageous. The president has promised his base that the Iran war will end “immediately after the election.” It’s almost as if Trump is all-seeing, all-knowing and all-powerful. In addition, $5,000 checks will go flying out of Washington, D.C., to every adult in America if the president’s party maintains control of both houses of Congress. Not content with proffering these super-exciting election bribes to his American fan base, the president has also promised his Euro-Asian hegemon buddy that U.S./Russia ties will be “fully restored” once Vladimir Putin ends the Ukraine war. Trump wants himself, the darling hegemon of the Western hemisphere, to be hailed as a prophet of peace — before the election, if possible.

Kimball Shinkoskey

Small-minded

Bronx: We’re in a pointless war, inflation and long-term wage stagflation have caused an affordability crisis with food, fuel and utilities through the roof, and what is our president’s main concern (other than cheating in the midterm elections)? His name on the Kennedy Center. In the most powerful position on Earth, he cheats at golf, a game. He’s the most pathetic person in human history.

Randall Borra

Snatched from sacrifice

Riverhead, L.I.: This week, I offered watermelon and water to chickens packed into transport crates — often their only nourishment before slaughter. The birds are used for Kaporos, a pre-Yom Kippur custom in which a live chicken is circled overhead during prayer and then killed. But chickens are not required: practitioners can circle money instead and donate it directly to people in need, preserving the ritual’s charitable purpose without taking a life. I thank the young Jews who approached me and said, “You are right,” and the Boro Park butcher who entrusted several chickens to our care. Because they reconsidered an accepted practice, those birds will live.

John Di Leonardo