The newly promoted No. 2 cop in the controversial Street Crime Unit lives in the precinct where West African immigrant Amadou Diallo was shot down in a hail of gunfire by four white members of the unit.
But Deputy Inspector Robert Wheeler – who is black and who was once stopped by police for an off-duty traffic matter – believes race had nothing to do with the Diallo incident and that the SCU has been unfairly criticized as “unlawful and invasive” for stopping and frisking gun suspects.
“There is a public perception that the SCU is an invading army in certain neighborhoods,” Wheeler said yesterday, shortly after being promoted. “But I believe in explaining that we are out trying to reduce levels of crime so that the people can feel safe in their homes.”
Stop-and-frisks “cut the level of violence and stop crime before it happens,” which, he added, will work toward changing that perception.
Clearly, say department insiders, Police Commissioner Howard Safir is looking to placate the minority community by promoting Wheeler, but Wheeler disagreed, citing his long record as a problem-solving commander.
Wheeler, an 18-year veteran who spent the bulk of his career as a transit cop, feels the SCU has traditionally been mostly white because black and Hispanic cops fear being the victim of friendly fire. He was most recently in the 60th Precinct in Coney Island.