Suffolk cops, Todd Kaminsky, foreign workers and anti-vaxxers

Suffolk cops’ data hub can be better

To share information for transparency and self-improvement, and in compliance with a U.S. Department of Justice 2014 settlement agreement, the Suffolk County Police Department has created a data dashboard known as the "Transparency Hub" ["Suffolk unveils data hub," News, Feb. 23].

Researchers with United for Justice in Policing LI have been analyzing SCPD data for years, pushing the department to end racial biases in traffic stop practices and to publish complete raw data.

After years of waiting, the hub became live in 2021 and was updated. The efforts to be transparent are welcome. However, the hub at present falls short of what our data work group deems necessary for meaningful transparency.

The hub does little to inform the public’s understanding of the enforcement experiences of county residents. It does not allow meaningful comparisons by race/ethnicity. Most searches conducted during traffic stops are based on drugs, yet the hub provides no drug-related crime data.

Reliable assessment of the potential influence of bias in discretionary enforcement activities requires comparison and contrast of the rates at which different groups are subjected to each type of discretionary enforcement action. The hub does not provide these frequency rates.

Given available technology, we can do better.

— Deborah Little, South Setauket

The writer is a member of United for Justice in Policing LI.

Kaminsky still has climate work to do

Sen. Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach) announced he will not run again this year ["Kaminsky says he won’t seek reelection," News, Feb. 17]. He mentioned his pride in supporting climate legislation, seeing that role as an important part of his public service legacy.

While true that the senator was key in passing climate legislation, particularly the Climate Leadership and Community Preservation Act, New York is still proceeding too slowly in confronting the ravages of climate change. Kaminsky is still in office and chairs the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee, an influential position he will occupy until the end of the year.

We must urge him to expand and burnish his environmental legacy by continuing to fight for strong climate legislation. He owes it to his constituents and committed climate activists to continue the fight.

Important bills must be addressed and passed if New York is to meet the established climate goals. Included are the teachers’ fossil fuel divestment act, the moratorium on proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining, a bill to move toward municipalizing the Long Island Power Authority, and others.

Kaminsky’s dedication to confront climate chaos, the existential issue of our time, is still required.

— Jim Brown, Island Park

The writer is secretary of the Green Party of Nassau County.

Is tech firms’ hiring now a one-way street?

I was dismayed to learn that tech firms are seeking foreign workers to fill their remote hiring needs because they can be hired at a discount relative to an equally skilled American worker ["Tech firms in U.S. eye cheaper hires in Latin America," LI Business, Feb. 21].

This is disconcerting to say the least. It is the height of hypocrisy to tout science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs to American schoolchildren on the one hand and ignore qualified American workers in need of employment in favor of foreign labor on the other hand.

I guess loyalty continues to be a one-way street in corporate America. How does that Willie Nelson song go, "Don’t let your children grow up to be engineers."

— Michael Scaturro, Garden City

Gummi Bears could spell pandemic’s end

I think the doctors can’t see the forest because of the trees ["Searching for a misinformation antidote," News, Feb. 22].

People put all kinds of unknown junk into their bodies. They eat hot dogs and at fast-food restaurants. They swallow canned energy drinks with lots of sugar and caffeine. They vape, breathe scented candles and inject Botox to make wrinkles vanish.

It is silly to think that people are worried about another foreign substance entering their body. The problem may be that unvaccinated people are afraid of the needle.

The solution is to put the vaccine in cherry Gummi Bear form. Almost everyone loves them. Put it in packets and hand them out in high-risk areas. Mail them to everyone as samples. Bring them to NASCAR events, Republican rallies and school board meetings.

The vaccine can be listed in the ingredients, but no one will read it anyway. Soon everyone will be immunized, and we can start panicking about inflation and the price of gas again.

— Eugene Towba, Plainview