Citizens to the Rescue

First, the bad news: according to the FBI, aggravated assaults rose by 6% across the nation last year. Now the good news: people are doing something about it--at least in New York City, where apathy has long since seemed a conditioned reflex.

In the space of five days recently, New Yorkers came to the rescue in three different assault cases, capturing and holding suspects until the police arrived. In one instance, nearly 100 outraged citizens surrounded the taxicab in which three muggers were trying to escape, pressing in so close that the assailants locked themselves in for fear of their lives. In another, three men chased two muggers down back streets, overtook them and wrestled them into submission. In the most dramatic--and questionable--"citizen's arrest," a dozen men pummeled into unconsciousness a man suspected of and later charged with molesting a nine-year-old girl.

That excess of zeal brought a gentle reminder from Police Commissioner Donald Cawley that citizens should not "see themselves as police, prosecutor and jury." But everyone, including Cawley, took heart at the apparent reversal of the city's "I don't want to get involved" attitude, reified nine years ago when Kitty Genovese, 28, was stabbed to death as dozens of her Queens neighbors looked on without even bothering to call the police. With appropriate caution, New York Mayor John Lindsay expressed the hope that "it's the beginning of a trend."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.