To All Delegates and Members

July 12, 2001

On July 9, Stanley Crouch of the Daily News wrote a column that misrepresented my criticism of the recruitment screening process. Under a headline reading, "PBA Misfires in Attack on Rookies," he mistakenly took me to task for what he thought was an attack on "the graduating class from the Police Academy as both incompetent and of questionable character," when I did no such thing. What I did was to raise concerns about the recruitment screening process. We contacted Mr. Crouch personally and explained the situation to him and I immediately wrote a letter to the News setting the record straight.

This was my letter of response, scheduled to be published July 12:

Stanley Crouch usually has an extremely level head on his shoulders so I'm surprised at the serious error he made in his July 9 column, "PBA misfires in attack on rookies." He has confused two events that occurred about a month apart: the May 29 graduation of the Police Academy class and the completion of a recruitment process that enrolled a new class July 2. I expressed serious concerns about the process that led to the latter group and not to the quality of the rookies in the graduating class. And race had nothing whatsoever to do with my criticism. The NYPD is experiencing a retention and recruitment crisis that has prompted it to rush the latest screening process in an effort to sign up enough recruits to qualify for federal funds. City Hall ignores the fact that the best recruitment poster is a satisfied veteran cop. It's easy to attract quality police officers of all ethnic backgrounds. Just pay them what they're worth.

I will continue to respond, swiftly and forcefully, to make sure the public gets the right message when it comes to the concerns of our members.