Letter of the Day: Stop and frisk

Stop and frisk

EDITOR: Richard Cohen defended the use of stop-and-frisk and said it contributed to stopping crime, although he also said it resulted in few arrests ("On a collision course with guns," Tuesday). Cohen is, of course, white, and so am I. There's nothing wrong with that, but I believe he supports the law because of his race. When Cohen walks through New York, he doesn't have to worry about being treated like a criminal.

And it's not just about being stopped on the street. The cops in many stop-and-frisk cases have been caught being abusive, bullying innocent people and violating legal and human rights. But people such as Cohen say, "Well, that's OK, because I'm not the problem. Statistically it's blacks and Hispanics, so they deserve to all be treated like they're doing something wrong."

To me, that's like saying all whites should be audited because they commit a higher percentage of white-collar crimes. And, to me, it's not too far to say that people such as Cohen, because of their limited and skewed perspective, don't really understand what they're talking about.

SKYLER LENCHNER

Santa Rosa