NY- "Stop and Frisk" policy occurs mostly in black & latino communities and most lack any legal justification.
In 2009 in New York City, a record 576,394 people were stopped, 84 percent of whom were Black and Latino residents — although they comprise only about 26 percent and 27 percent of New York City’s total population respectively. The year 2009 was not an anomaly. Ten years of raw data obtained by court order from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) reveal that stop-and-frisks result in a minimal yield of weapons and contraband. Moreover, the practice contributes to continued mistrust, doubt and fear of police officers in communities of color that are already scarred by systemic racial profiling and major incidents of police brutality.
The City often relies on a report it commissioned in 2007 from the RAND Corporation that claims its stop-and-frisk policy is not racially biased.
"I have a problem with this, a private company working in partnership with authorities conducts a study and guess what? The Rand Corporation finds in favor of the police, screw our Constitutional Rights."
There is a clear need for accountability, independent oversight and reform in the NYPD’s use of stop-and-frisk.
Nearly half of all documented stops are justified by citing the vague category “furtive movements,” in stark contrast to the only 15 percent of stops citing “fits relevant description.”
Most stops occur in Black and Latino neighborhoods, and even after adjustments for other factors including crime rates, social conditions and allocation of police resources in those neighborhoods, race is the main factor determining NYPD stops.
•Blacks and Hispanics are more likely to be stopped than Whites even in areas with low crime rates, where populations are mixed or mostly White.
•Nearly 150,000 stops over the last six years are facially unconstitutional and lack any legal justification. All together, 30 percent of all stops are unconstitutional, underlining a severe lack of adequate officer oversight in the NYPD.
•Black and Latino suspects are treated more harshly in instances in which police officers make the determination that a crime has occurred. Black and Latino suspects are more likely to be arrested rather than issued a summons when compared to White suspects who are accused of the same crimes. Black and Latino suspects are more likely to have force used against them.
•The rate of gun seizures is nearly zero—0.15 out of a hundred stops—a disturbingly low return for a law enforcement tactic which the NYPD itself claims is designed specifically to remove illegal guns from the streets.
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) has long been active in the movement to address racial profiling, particularly in New York City. CCR filed Floyd, et al. v. City of New York, et al., a federal class action lawsuit against the NYPD and the City of New York that challenges the NYPD’s practices of racial profiling and unconstitutional stop-and-frisks.
Links: http://ccrjustice.org/floyd
http://ccrjustice.org/files/Fagan%20Report%20Summary%20Final.pdf
http://ccrjustice.org/files/Expert_Report_JeffreyFagan.pdf
http://ccrjustice.org/files/CCR_Stop_and_Frisk_Fact_Sheet.pdf