The business of racial politics

Clearing the cops

Surprise: The big lawsuit against the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk program, which enters its fifth week today, is actually doing the city a service — by proving, with each passing day of the trial, that critics have no valid legal claim against it.

Indeed, New Yorkers can take some comfort in how rapidly the case is falling apart.

Consider:

* Of some 4.6 million documented stops between 2004 and 2012, the strongest “victims” that could be produced include one who admitted having lied about his stop and another who is black but concedes he has “no idea” if cops detained him based on race — a key charge leveled by plaintiffs.

Plus, a review panel cleared the police in many of the stops in question.

* An NYPD inspector who allegedly instructed a cop to target minorities turns out to have told him to do just the opposite.

Far from being racist, the inspector seems to be a staunchdefenderof minorities: On tape, he stresses to his underling that “99 percent of the people in this community are great, hard-working people who deserve to walk to the train stop, walk to their car” without fear of being shot.

* An “expert” who was supposed to prove the stops are unjustified was able to show cops failing to cite good reasons for them only 6 percent of the time.

* The plaintiffs’ lawyers resorted to having state Sen. Eric Adams testify that Commissioner Ray Kelly once said he sought to “target” minorities in order to “instill fear in them” that they could be stopped whenever they stepped outdoors.

Please. Adams has made a career of calling the NYPD racist. And, to no surprise, no one else who heard Kelly’s comments was able to back up Adams’ claim.

If this is the best the plaintiffs can do, the city can sure feel good about its cops.

No, the trial’s not over. Nor does the weakness of the case guarantee it’ll end with stop-and-frisk exonerated: Judge Shira Scheindlin has made clear that she believed the NYPD guilty long before the first witness even took the stand.

Still, as cops use stop-and-frisk every day to keep New Yorkers safe, it’s nice to see the allegations against the program so publicly discredited in court.