City to log five millionth stop-and-frisk, lawsuit starts next week
The New York Civil Liberties Union reported today that the NYPD will record its 5 millionth stop-and-frisk today, according to an analysis the NYCLU conducted on an “extrapolation of Police Department data.”
4.4 million of the stop-and-frisk encounters, or 88 percent, did not result in an arrest or summons, the NYCLU said. More than 86 percent of people stopped were black or Latino.
In 2002, NYPD officers conducted 97,296 stops. Almost a decade later, in 2011, they conducted 685,724, according to NYCLU reports.
The city contends that the stop-and-frisk policy works, and is responsible for a notable decrease in crime citywide.
A class action federal lawsuit brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights against the controversial police practice goes to trial next week on March 18.
In Floyd v. City of New York, people who have experienced the stop-and-frisk procedure are suing the city on the grounds that the practice is unconstitutional, and targets black and Latino New Yorkers disproportionately.
Recently, a judge in the Bronx ordered an injunction against the NYPD Clean Halls Program in some Bronx buildings, ruling that the NYPD could not carry out stop-and-frisk in those buildings until inherent flaws in their approach were remedies.
Her ruling was based in large part on the testimony of a Bronx assistant district attorney who has helped establish a policy to minimize stop-and-frisk encounters in the Bronx, by requiring officers to appear in person to justify the stop.
She later suspended that injunction.
At a recent press conference, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly announced new technology that will allow police officers to scan passersby for possible concealed firearms, prompting concerns about possible privacy violations.
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