Once a symbol of a burgeoning vigilante movement, Bernie Goetz now says the war on crime in New York has been won, and police should start acting like it. Speaking outside court in Manhattan, where he appeared on misdemeanor pot charges, Goetz, who in 1984 shot four black teenagers he said tried to rob him on a No. 2 train, has a new attitude. “This type of hysterical war on crime, which I helped start 30 years ago, is just no longer appropriate,” he said, per The Wall Street Journal. “The war on crime actually was won 10 years ago. What you need is a general police attitude that people in New York are well behaved.” Goetz also said he initially thought the cop who busted him last month was trying to rob him, and rejected a plea deal because he felt coerced into taking money for pot.
