Dear Mr. Nutter: Stop and Frisk is Wrong.

(For those who are unfamiliar, mayor-elect Michael Nutter has proposed a "stop and frisk" program whereby police can search pedestrians {read:black men} for illegal weapons, based on, basically, a "hunch" {read: profiling} that the person might be up to something.)

Dear Mr. Nutter:

Stop and Frisk is Wrong.

We're tracking close to 400 homicides again this year. Two cops were shot in less then 16 hours, 3 in a week. Gun violence is out of control. And yet, that little voice in the back of my head is still screaming "No! No! No! Don't do it!"

Stop and frisk is wrong, and it's still wrong even though on the surface it seems like a good idea, even though it may seem necessary. Even though it's "for our own good". This is how police states get sanctified. This is how rationality gives way to expediency. This is how intention gets corrupted into control. By ordinary citizens willingly giving over their rights to a higher power for an alleged greater good. Didn't we all study the McCarthy era in school? Haven't we learned anything from it? This is how it starts. One small nibble at a time, and next thing you know, the cake is gone.

I am just old enough to remember the quasi-fascist regime know as " The Rizzo Years", when a few bad apples ruled the city. When ordinary citizens were afraid to stand up FOR themselves and TO abuse and corruption. Maybe there was an uncertain peace, but was it worth the price? No. Remember the 5-squad scandals? Do we want a repeat of the days when the police and city government were the enemy, and not someone to look up to, not there "to protect and serve", but merely to squeeze what benefit they could out of power and control? They're supposed to be looking out for us, we're not supposed to have to look over our shoulder for them.

While the police shooting last week was a horrible, unjustifiable tragedy, we can't let it be used as an excuse to trample on the rights won at such a high price by our predecessors. Here, of all places, in the "cradle of liberty", where where these principles were codified, were woven into the very fabric of our nation, we must know better. Haven't we given up enough already in the so-called "war on terror"? Are you so willing to hand over more?

I'm not. I refuse. I refuse to give in to the paranoia. I refuse to be browbeat by the government in my "own best interest". Isn't that the excuse they used to use to put non-cooperative people into asylums? Then call me crazy. But the US and PA constitutions already provide for stop and search by police where there is PROBABLE CAUSE AND REASONABLE SUSPICION of illegal behavior. Merely being in a "bad" area can not possibly legally or plausibly fit in under this rule. These high crime areas are residential neighborhoods. People live there, often not by choice. The fact that you live in relative poverty does not automatically make you a criminal, anymore than residing in a certain neighborhood makes you gay, or Catholic, or Chinese. What reason is there to stop a person going about his daily business just because of where he lives? Or are we targeting the people who look like they DON'T belong in certain neighborhoods? Even worse. Let's not be coy. How many of these potential felons will turn out NOT to be young black men? Do you think the cops are going to be ped-stopping granny to see what's in her tote bag? Not bloody likely.

And I find it beyond ironic that your TV commercials position you as fighting back against the Bush/Cheyney machine while employing a tactic that is clearly out of their playbook.

The answer is not suppression, oppression, or elimination of rights. It's not just more boots on the street, though that certainly would help. You need to treat the cause, not just the symptoms. One of the answers is gun control, but we all know that's not going to happen. (Thank you, NRA.) So what's left? Education, opportunity. The mayor's office has recently opened a broad new re-entry program to help ex-felons integrate back into society and make decent citizens of themselves. Bravo! It's about time. Now, how about something to prevent them from becoming felons in the first place? How about spending more money on our schools so more kids graduate and have a chance at a decent future? How about social services so kids that don't have a good background still get some positive influences and social survival skills? How about technical training and job opportunities so people don't have to turn to drug sales and robbery to make a living? How about drug and mental health treatment to dry up the market for the illegal sales? No, it won't have as instant an impact as "stop and frisk", but it will be much more effective and lasting in the long term. And it doesn't denigrate people, it empowers them. It makes citizens partners with, not enemies of, the system. And it does all this without stomping all over people's constitutional rights. If you want to help the City and People of Philadelphia, shaking them down with "stop and frisk" is not the way to do it. Listen to the little voice in your head, and say NO!