New York City, whether it likes it or not, has earned a name for a particularly ugly kind of police crime, in which officers use particularly ugly or excessive force in attacking unarmed black men. There’s no reason to believe it’s going to end soon.

The reputation is stronger among minorities than among whites (but therein hangs a tale). Such attacks do not, it is true, happen terribly often – but for some things, once in a while is far too much. Why? Because their excess bespeaks the racial impasse that persists in our culture, and because they are so ugly they stick in the collective unconscious.

Such crimes begin with a group of nervous undercover officers who approach a minority male. Something goes criminally wrong. What follows is outrage among minority citizens (mostly), sometimes led by itinerant leaders like the Rev. Al Sharpton, who are persuaded that these things happen exclusively in their neighborhoods. Months later, suits are filed; sometimes indictments follow, and ultimately there are trials. Finally – and in most instances – the police are acquitted of all charges.

Three examples:

¢ A Haitian immigrant, Abner Louima, was abused with a broom handle in a Brooklyn police precinct in 1997.

¢ Another immigrant, Amadou Diallo, was shot in the vestibule of his apartment building in February 1999. He died unarmed in a hail of 41 police bullets.

¢ Sean Bell, 23, also weaponless, was shot to death last fall in Queens on the morning of his wedding day. About 50 bullets were spent in the attack.

Three officers were indicted last week in the killing of Bell, who had been celebrating with friends outside a nightclub. Two of his friends were also shot, but survived.

In each case, there are claims of extenuating circumstances. In each case, it is claimed the police had no choice. In Bell’s case, the officers testified before a grand jury that he gunned his car and struck at least one of them in his attempt to flee.

It is fair – more than fair – to note that New York got this reputation after former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani prompted his police department to alter its crime-fighting techniques. In 1994, Giuliani and then-police commissioner William Bratton ordered their “elite” Street Crimes Unit to confiscate illegal weapons from pedestrians through a program of stop and search. Charges flew of civil-rights violations and increased police shootings.

More than 33,000 people were stopped on New York City’s streets in 1997 and 1998, according to police data. The actual number stopped will never be known because many citizens were stopped and frisked and found not to be carrying unlicensed weapons. Most were sent on their way, and no paperwork or record of the intrusion was filed.

Some people, considering this issue, will say, “Of course, this is too much”; others will wonder what the fuss is about. That, too, bespeaks our racial impasse. As mentioned, excessive brutality isn’t actually routine. But try telling that to families of victims. Police seldom use their stop-and-search policies in wealthy or middle-class communities, so people from those communities don’t see a problem. In New York and elsewhere, minorities bear the brunt, and their cries of brutality or harassment are largely dismissed.

What is left is a deep sense of hopelessness – and fear – on the part of minority communities.

There has to be a better way to patrol the streets. We all know that the streets of most big cities are crowded by people who break the law. But we have to maintain our values without capriciously shooting down citizens who pose no threat, who endanger no one.

In a free society, the police are governed by law. In other societies, the police are the law. In such nations, citizens do not have a Fourth Amendment to protect their right “to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” Under the U.S. Constitution, we have those protections in place, even if they are not recognized by everyone.