NY crime also took a huge drop after Guiliani pushed through his “quality of life” ordinances, which are essentially a blank check for cops to stop and pat-down anyone they want for BS reasons, and send people away with ridiculously long jail terms for petty crimes like grafitti.
For instance: it’s against the law to have a backpack on a subway seat next to you. They’ll put you off a subway car and pat you down for it.
If someone looks “out of place” in a neighborhood, like you’re looking for a street address etc. They’ll pat you down because you may be “casing” the street and parked cars.
The other delightful law is “menacing”- meaning if you are doing anything ANYTHING that makes someone else (read: rich and/or white people) nervous/suspicious, NYPD can and will stop and frisk you.
Guiliani’s whole schtick was the police getting pro-active about crimefighting, which apparently means playing fast and loose with bill of rights, and selectively enforcing the law.
A group of pretty blonde upper east side club girls stumbling drunk, raising hell through Times Square? No problem. They’ll often stop and take pictures with the cops.
A group of black kids doing the same thing? They’re getting frisked. Happens every day.
So, crime is down, but at what cost?