On the Right - Wanted: Policemen.(press portrayal of police)(Brief Article)

NEW YORK, JULY 31

Howard safir was police commissioner of New York City up until a year ago, serving under Mayor Giuliani, an old friend and confederate. His reputation was that of an enormously resourceful manager. It hadn't mattered in the least, when Giuliani offered him the job, that he had never served in any police department. Things like that don't bother professionals: If you are omnicompetent, you can handle anything. And Safir did, presiding over a crime reduction at a higher rate than anywhere in the country. He implemented the idea of specifying anti- criminal procedures with reference to local circumstances. So why, the visitor asked, are we getting this front-page news that urban police jobs are unwanted and that recruiting is down drastically? His answer was characteristically unambiguous: "You've got to be brain dead if you don't know."

The brainy caller pleaded innocent, and Mr. Safir, now an executive with ChoicePoint, a corporate security firm, explained. Policemen, he said, do not feel that they are esteemed members of the community. What is the primary reason for this? Their treatment by the press, he said.

Obviously it isn't that entirely. The mood out there, particularly in the black community, is skeptical and not objective. Safir spoke of addressing a meeting of the Urban League three years ago- "they're African-American professionals, doctors, lawyers, accountants. One member got up and said that his advice to his son, if ever accosted by a policeman, was to raise his hands up on the nearest wall, lean forward, and let the policeman do whatever he wants to do." Safir found it astonishing that most of those attending the meeting nodded in agreement.

The problem of the urban black and law enforcement has much to do with the nature and frequency of encounters with the police. "I spoke to one group of 300 black kids and asked how many had had an encounter with the police. About half of them raised their hands. I asked those with hands raised, How had that encounter been? Half of ...