A police officer testified Thursday that his boss ordered him to stop and frisk young black males in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx because they are the ones who commit crimes. Credit: Jeremy Sparig
UPDATE: Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne issued a statement in support of McCormack, declaring that McCormack “did what a good commander is supposed to do — direct officers under his command to protect the public.”
Browne insisted that the Deputy Inspector was not racially profiling, and that his taped comments needed to be looked at in context.
“He was describing suspects in patterns of burglaries and robberies who were victimizing people in a specific part of the precinct,” Browne said. “The inspector’s concern was that the officer was not focusing on serious crimes — instead the officer was more concerned with people blocking an entrance to a building elsewhere in the precinct.”
“The message was for the officer to go to where the robberies and burglaries occurred, keep his eyes open and take appropriate action in response to suspicious or criminal behavior,” Browne added.
Metro’s original story is below.
A secretly taped conversation by a cop revealed that his commanding officer ordered him to specifically target young black males for stop-and-frisks.
On the fourth day of the stop-and-frisk trial, Bronx officer Pedro Serrano said his boss, Deputy Inspector Christopher McCormack, told him he should stop black males ages 14 to 21 because they are the ones who commit crimes.
McCormack is heard on the taped conversation telling Serrano to stop “the right people.”
“And I told you at roll call, and I have no problem telling you this, male blacks 14 to 20, 21,” he said, The New York Times reported.
Serrano testified that he was also criticized by McCormack for not stopping enough people last year.
The tape is the latest evidence in a class action lawsuit against the NYPD’s controversial stop-and-frisk tactic brought by a group of individuals who say they were stopped because of their race.
