Whoever said “don’t judge a person until you walk in his shoes” must have had police issued footwear in mind. It’s never been easy being a police officer in New York City, but these days it seems harder than ever.

Recent headlines are replete with stories of bat attacks on underpaid rookies and the sentencing of cop-killing drug dealers. Now, in addition to the real everyday threats that our heroes face, a new round of unfounded racial accusations threatens to turn our citizens against them.

Within hours of the delivery of over 1,600 pages of “Stop and Frisk” statistics to the City Council, the usual parade of police bashers was already claiming that it had finally found proof that the New York Police Department is guilty of racial profiling, despite never having requested to examine the documentation. As the author — along with another member of the council at the time, Phil Reed — of this city’s anti-profiling law, I can unequivocally say that nothing is further from the truth.

What a preliminary look at these statistics shows is that 55% of those stopped were black, 30% were Hispanic, 11% were white, and almost 3% were Asian.

What the irresponsible few left unsaid is that 65% of the suspects in open complaints are black, 24.5% are Hispanic, 5% are white, and 1.6 % are Asian. The racial breakdown of unapprehended criminals is not a matter of conjecture.

Rather, it is learned from the victims of the crimes themselves, who are overwhelmingly minorities. While clearly not every stop relates to an open complaint, these figures offer an accurate picture of the people committing the most crimes and therefore those most likely to be stopped for suspicion of criminal activity. The statistics prove that our officers are not using racial profiling, but common sense.

It would be a difficult trick to stop crime without stopping the actual criminals, but that is what our police bashers seem to be demanding. By being proactive rather than reactive, the NYPD has been able to stop crime before it occurs, before we lose the next innocent child to a stray bullet, or the next detective to an armed drug dealer.

Let us not forget what the city was like in 1991. Crime and drugs were rampant on the streets and many neighborhoods resembled war zones. How did this city, a mere 15 years later, become the safest big city in America?

The answer is simple: more police officers, strong leadership, and new aggressive crime-fighting tactics.

“Stop and Question” or “Stop and Frisk” have been an essential part of this enforcement. As a result, this dramatic drop in our crime rates has been the catalyst allowing every facet of our city to prosper.

Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly deserve praise for keeping us safe from terrorists while continuing to win the war on crime. One way they achieved this is by assembling the most diverse membership in the history of the Police Department of this city. Mr. Kelly is one of the world’s foremost experts in public safety, and those few calling for his removal would do well to stop placing their own political agendas before the good of our city.

No one likes being detained by the police, which makes the task of policing especially difficult. Every stop must balance public safety and our individual liberties. We at the council recognize that many community members are concerned that NYPD officers are overstepping the bounds of their authority. This perception could be minimized if some members of the NYPD were more courteous during encounters, or did a better job explaining the reasons for the stops.

And, of course, real abuse still exists. As a former prosecutor I handled matters involving officers who committed crimes against people, and as a defense attorney I represented the victims of police misconduct, so I understand that we must be ever vigilant of those few who would abuse the power society has granted them.

On the whole, however, there is no reason why proactive, aggressive police work informed by legal standards and applied with transparency, should constitute a threat to law-abiding citizens.

Now the council begins the actual work of analyzing these voluminous documents in detail and then holding hearings where the tough questions are asked in full view of the public, with an eye toward learning and improving, as opposed to vilifying. That is how responsible leaders protect the public.

While this process unfolds, the preliminary statistics, which are known, should be a source of comfort to our citizens, not a tool for falsely inflaming passions and endangering the well-being of this great city.

Mr. Vallone is chairman of the Public Safety Committee of the New York City Council.