RAY KELLY'S NYPD

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly announced plans last week to disband the
controversial Street Crimes Unit. It's a big step - one that some might
expect to have a steep impact on crime.

But Kelly looks to be acting on the merits. And, surely, he deserves the
benefit of the doubt.

The SCU, of course, was at the eye of the storm after one of its details
mistakenly shot an unarmed black immigrant, Amadou Diallo, in The Bronx in
February 1999.

The unit had used plainclothes officers to carry out its controversial
"stop and frisk" program, which confiscated hundreds of illegal guns.

Under pressure after the Diallo tragedy, then-top cop Howard Safir sent the
SCU back into uniform and worked to add minorities to the unit.

Now, under Kelly's plan, two-thirds of the 180 remaining SCU cops will be
moved into precinct detective squads, with the rest continuing to focus on
gun retrieval on a borough-by-borough basis.

The commissioner says that this move addresses staffing shortages in key
areas. Mainly because of retirements, nearly 3,000 cops have left the force
since July.

There's certainly little reason to doubt that the commish knows what he's
doing. Indeed, crime has continued to drop steadily in the post-
Giuliani-Kerik era.

And despite some crankiness by a fringe group of black cops last weekend,
the environment between the police and the neighborhoods in which they
patrol has - post 9/11 - been improving.

Kelly's move falls squarely in the category of a commissioner's right - in
fact, obligation - to make periodic organizational adjustments as he deems
necessary. The key is that he be allowed to do so without being unduly
influenced or encumbered by ill-willed activists with agendas.