The police are my friends.

A senior citizen blurted out in the middle of a police community meeting I attended in the

South Bronx.

I've heard variations on this theme dozens of times from the law abiding residents of

high crime communities.

These hardworking people don't load the police, quite the opposite.

They understand what so many seem to have forgotten or never understood.

They spend most of their time in minority communities, that is mostly black communities,

because that is where innocent people are most being hurt by violent street crime.

To put it plainly, police go where the crime is.

In the 75 largest US counties, about 60% of robbery and murder defendants are black,

even though blacks comprise only 15% of the population in those counties.

In New York City, blacks make up 73% of all shooting victims, though they are 23% of

the city's population.

In Chicago in 2016, there were 43 hundred shooting victims, almost all black.

Among the two dozen victims under the age of 12, was a three year old shot on Father's

Day who is now paralyzed for life, and a 10 year old shot on Labor Day, whose pancreas

and spleen were ripped apart.

This is the reality that police commanders in urban areas face every day.

And every day they get calls from law abiding citizens in high crime neighborhoods begging

for assistance.

So are the police friend or foe?

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