NYPD officers who failed to meet alleged "Stop & Frisk" arrest quotas, sent to remedial classes.

 By Michael Powell:

Judge Shira A. Scheindlin of United States District Court declared this argument flatly unconstitutional. She found “overwhelming evidence” that top brass had put in place “a centralized stop-and-frisk program that has led to thousands of unlawful stops.”

The department’s lawyers argued that stopping and frisking was a time-honored “social institution.” The judge batted down that argument, too. 
“Defendants’ cavalier attitude towards the prospect of a ‘widespread practice of suspicionless stops,’ ” she wrote, “displays a deeply troubling apathy towards New Yorkers’ most fundamental constitutional goals.” 
Stopping and frisking, done properly, is useful and legal. Officers can stop someone when they have reason to suspect that a crime has taken place or is about to take place. But that police favorite, “furtive movement”? No such legal animal exists. 
This is not just a fine point harped upon by federal judges. In the last few weeks I interviewed two officers in Bushwick who insisted that current policy required them to trespass across clear constitutional lines. 
“You can’t catch innocent young men in your nets and just say, ‘Oh, that’s all right, I’m fighting crime,’ ” a veteran officer said. “You have to follow the law.” 
Judge Scheindlin was withering on this question. She noted that many stops were illegal on their face and that even “according to their own records and judgment, officers’ ‘suspicion’ was wrong nearly 9 times out of 10.” 
Last week, two police officers told me several colleagues were in heavily attended remedial classes for those who fail to record enough stops and arrests. 
“They want five arrests a month for marijuana for some units,” he said. “If you can do that, you either have X-ray vision or you are breaking the law.”
 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/nyregion/gotham-arguments-for-stop-and-frisk-dont-hold-up.html?_r=3&ref=nyregion

 Black NYC kids arrested more often, data shows.

The NYPD’s stop-and-frisk practices raise serious concerns over racial profiling, illegal stops and privacy rights. The Department’s own reports on its stop-and-frisk activity confirm what many people in communities of color across the city have long known: The police are stopping hundreds of thousands of law abiding New Yorkers every year, and the vast majority are black and Latino.
An analysis by the NYCLU revealed that more than 4 million innocent New Yorkers were subjected to police stops and street interrogations from 2004 through 2011, and that black and Latino communities continue to be the overwhelming target of these tactics. Nearly nine out of 10 stopped-and-frisked New Yorkers have been completely innocent, according to the NYPD’s own reports:

• In 2002, 97,296 New Yorkers were stopped by the police.
  80,176 were totally innocent (82 percent).

• In 2003, 160,851 New Yorkers were stopped by the police.
  140,442 were totally innocent (87 percent).
  77,704 were black (54 percent).
  44,581 were Latino (31 percent).
  17,623 were white (12 percent).
  83,499 were aged 14-24 (55 percent). 

• In 2004, 313,523 New Yorkers were stopped by the police.
  278,933 were totally innocent (89 percent).
  155,033 were black (55 percent).
  89,937 were Latino (32 percent).
  28,913 were white (10 percent).
  152,196 were aged 14-24 (52 percent).

• In 2005, 398,191 New Yorkers were stopped by the police.
  352,348 were totally innocent (89 percent).
  196,570 were black (54 percent).
  115,088 were Latino (32 percent).
  40,713 were white (11 percent).
  189,854 were aged 14-24 (51 percent).

• In 2006, 506,491 New Yorkers were stopped by the police.
  457,163 were totally innocent (90 percent).
  267,468 were black (55 percent).
  147,862 were Latino (31 percent).
  53,500 were white (11 percent).
  247,691 were aged 14-24 (50 percent).

• In 2007, 472,096 New Yorkers were stopped by the police.
  410,936 were totally innocent (87 percent).
  243,766 were black (54 percent).
  141,868 were Latino (31 percent).
  52,887 were white (12 percent).
  223,783 were aged 14-24 (48 percent).

• In 2008, 540,302 New Yorkers were stopped by the police.
  474,387 were totally innocent (88 percent).
  275,588 were black (53 percent).
  168,475 were Latino (32 percent).
  57,650 were white (11 percent).
  263,408 were aged 14-24 (49 percent).

• In 2009, 581,168 New Yorkers were stopped by the police.
  510,742 were totally innocent (88 percent).
  310,611 were black (55 percent).
  180,055 were Latino (32 percent).
  53,601 were white (10 percent).
  289,602 were aged 14-24 (50 percent).

• In 2010, 601,285 New Yorkers were stopped by the police.
  518,849 were totally innocent (86 percent).
  315,083 were black (54 percent).
  189,326 were Latino (33 percent).
  54,810 were white (9 percent).
  295,902 were aged 14-24 (49 percent).

• In 2011, 685,724 New Yorkers were stopped by the police.
  605,328 were totally innocent (88 percent).
  350,743 were black (53 percent).
  223,740 were Latino (34 percent).
  61,805 were white (9 percent).
  341,581 were aged 14-24 (51 percent).

• In the first three months of 2012, 203,500 New Yorkers were stopped by the police.
  181,457 were totally innocent (89 percent).
  108,097 were black (54 percent).
  69,043 were Latino (33 percent).
  18,387 were white (9 percent). 

• http://www.nyclu.org/issues/racial-justice/stop-and-frisk-practices

• http://www.nyclu.org/files/publications/NYCLU_2011_Stop-and-Frisk_Report.pdf