Alert in Westchester

In the good old days before World War II, a cop knew where he stood, in New Rochelle, in New York's staid Westchester County. It was Suburbia for the Suburbanites then, and, except for a few rough spots, keeping the peace was a cinch. Every now & then some shady-looking characters in veils and spangles would wander into town, but a good cop would spot them quick for what they were, and run them in. As one of New Rochelle's finest explained it delicately last week: "You know, gypsies--always out to commit some larceny by theft."

Nowadays things are not so simple. A lot of United Nations people had settled down in the calm, tree-shaded streets of Westchester. Some of these people come from countries no cop ever even heard of before. Nevertheless, a cop has got to do his duty as he sees it.

The way Patrolman Pasquale Lipsio saw it last week, when three ladies in flowing scarves went gliding into Bloomingdale's branch store in New Rochelle, it was simple: those gypsies were back in town. He promptly called his sergeant. Detectives John Dooley and Joe Reifenberger hopped into a squad car, sped to the store and proceeded cautiously to case the joint. There, sure enough, were the foreign-costumed ladies, two of them wandering through the gift shop, the third looking over spoons in the silver department.

No two stories match perfectly on what happened after that. The ladies claim they were manhandled. The cops say they were not. At any rate, the three ended up in the squad car en route to police headquarters. There they were quickly identified as 1) Mrs. Shafia Farooq, wife of the second secretary to Pakistan's U.N. delegation, 2) Mrs. Rahat Said Chhatari, wife of another Pakistan delegate, 3) Nadira, her daughter. All three had traveled in from the Farooq home in nearby Larchmont for an afternoon of quiet shopping. Amid profuse apologies, the police explained their mistake. Snapped Mrs. Chhatari: "What's wrong with gypsies? They, a re as good as Americans." Later, the ladies were heard to remark that such an outrage could never have happened in Pakistan. By week's end, the matter had developed into an international incident; Pakistan was demanding an official apology. But New Rochelle's cops were standing pat. "I tried to explain," said Lieut. Lawrence Ruhl patiently, "that when gypsies turn up in the city, our men are on the alert for mischief."

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