Stop-and-Frisk Has Gone Unchanged, Says Report

The NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy has gone unchanged, says the Center for Constitutional Rights, who released a new report this week analyzing the New York City Police Department’s stop-and-frisk data for January 2010 through June 2012.

According to the report, blacks and Latinos constitute 84 percent of all stops, a far higher percentage than their proportion of the city’s population, and they are significantly more likely to be stopped than whites, even after crime rates, local social conditions, and concentrations of police are taken into account, says the report.

Based on the information recorded on NYPD stop-and-frisk forms by police officers themselves, more than 95,000 stops lacked a reasonable suspicion. Only 6 percent of stops result in arrests, only 1.8 percent in seizure of contraband, and only .12 percent in seizure of weapons.

Although the overall number of stops decreased between April and September 2012, the high racial disparities and low rates of arrest and weapons recovery remained the same, says the report. Also, the number of stops recorded between January 1 and March 31, 2012 was the highest of any calendar quarter on record.

“Clearly the NYPD has a problem, and it has thus far been unwilling and unable to address it,” said Center for Constitutional Rights staff attorney Darius Charney. “This report underscores the need for independent oversight to ensure that the NYPD respects the rights of all New Yorkers.”

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly continues to defend the practice of stop-and-frisk.

“Many [community leaders] will speak out about stop-and-frisk” but are “shockingly silent when it comes to the level of violence right in their own communities,” Kelly said at an event in July.