Cops, residents handcuffed

To the editor: 

Bui Van Phu, a convicted sex offender, was charged with attempted murder when he sucker-punched a stranger, leaving him hospitalized in critical condition. The vicious, unprovoked attack on 188th Street in the Bronx was captured on camera, so there is no doubt about the facts of this attack. Van Pho Bui came at the victim from behind to throw his haymaker from an angle where the victim could not see the punch coming.

The attacker was arrested and initially charged with attempted murder, which appeared correct. Then the Bronx District Attorney’s Office reduced the charges to third-degree assault and harassment, and Van Phu Bui was released without bail.

As a retired New York cop, I wonder why anyone would want to be a police officer these days. They lock up career criminals, and the district attorneys often release them without bail. The question is not just why officers should bother to risk their lives when prosecutors don’t prosecute. It’s also, why should officers risk their lives to help law-abiding victims of crime when prosecutors release the perpetrators with no bail — free to commit more crimes and victimize more people.

Even if New York had a three-strikes law that put career criminals away for long prison terms following a third offense, it wouldn’t change much since the prosecutors would probably drop the charges from crimes to violations to avoid the third strike and the mandatory prison term.

When elected officials and prosecutors treat crime as a purely social problem and criminals as unfortunate victims of unfair laws and racially disparate enforcement, there is not much police officers can do to stem the tide of crime.

It takes an extremely dedicated police officer to continue the uphill battle against crime when his or her adversaries are supposed to be the officer’s strongest allies.

Michael J. Gorman