#nypdontrial

For the past couple of years, many different organizations have made their voice heard, all calling for an end to "Stop and Frisk", a police tactic that dis-proportionally effects minorities and is not very effective at finding guns. The intense opposition to the practice has grown over the years, including many members of the city council such as Jumaane Williams and Ydanis Rodriguez as well as the Working Families Party, the NYCLU, the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, and a multiplicity of other activist groups. 

Even so, there are some who agreed with Mike Bloomberg, Ray Kelly, and other high-profile police brass that the stops weren't based on race but that minority neighborhoods were just more dangerous and those groups also happened to look the most suspicious. This is despite the figures, which were published on the NYCLU Website. Since "Stop and Frisk" first began in 2002, the numbers are very consistent, with a higher number of stops performed each year. 85-90% of the victims were completely innocent and 80-90% are black or Latino. In fact, in 2012, the number of black men between the ages of 14 and 24 who were stopped was higher than that demographic's population in the whole city! (source) The practice is meant to get guns off the street, despite the fact that "Guns are found in less than 0.2 percent of stops" (source)

Well, now the naysayers will have an even harder time defending the tactic, because the NYPD is on trial on federal court,and it doesn't seem like they are winning.

Opponents of "Stop and Frisk" have long claimed that there are stop and frisk quotas. Kelly and Bloomberg scoffed at this claim but Adhyl Polanco testified in Manhattan Criminal Court two weeks ago with the reality of the situation. He stated that "supervisors at the 41st Precinct stationhouse in 2009 wanted '20 and 1' — 20 summonses a month and one arrest. He said the bosses also wanted five stop-and-frisks a month." (source) Even worse, officers who didn't fulfill these quotas were bullied, denied overtime, and had their hours cut.

 However, the case was just beginning to reveal the cold truth about "Stop and Frisk". A few days later, Pedro Serrano testified that they were told at roll call to stop "the right people", which is an ambiguous statement that seems to be racially coded. Then he had a secret recording of what happened when he asked an inspector who the right people were:

The problem was, what, male blacks,” Inspector McCormack said. “And I told you at roll call, and I have no problem telling you this, male blacks 14 to 20, 21.” (source)

While making ambiguous comments is certainly immoral, this direct comment from the inspector crosses the line and proves that "Stop and Frisk" is racially-targeted and unconstitutional. I'm sure that this confrontation is just one of many that occur between police personnel everyday, some more direct than others. 

Then on Monday, State Senator Eric Adams testified about what Ray Kelly told him regarding "Stop-and-Frisk":

“[NYPD Commissioner Kelly] stated that he targeted and focused on that group because he wanted to instill fear in them that every time that they left their homes they could be stopped by police," (source)

When Adams told Kelly that he felt like this was illegal, Kelly responded "How else are we going to get rid of guns?" 

This is the most damning evidence that has been presented so far, and I believe that these few testimonies prove what many New Yorkers have believed for years. "Stop and Frisk" is not effective as a way to get guns off of the street and causes many young Black and Latino men to be stopped just for walking down the street.

Some proponents of "Stop and Frisk" point to the historically low crime rates as proof that the tactic works but the numbers just simply don't support their claims. There is a general trend of lower crime rates in urban areas across the United States and gentrification is likely also a factor in this decrease.

We need to stop the NYPD from using their power to oppress those who are already struggling in the most expensive city in the United States. If the court doesn't stop this practice, then we must do it ourselves. We must watch and record the police whenever we can, spread information, and make our voices heard until the police are no longer allowed to hassle young minorities...by any means necessary.

Pack The Court with MXGM, the Justice Committee & Peoples' Justice at the historic "Floyd" federal class action lawsuit against the NYPD's Stop & Frisk practice! For more info click here...

Tuesday, April 2nd 9am-4pm (come as long as you can!) @ Southern District "Moynihan" Court 500 Pearl St, Lower Manhattan Room 15-C *take the J/Z to Chambers, N/R to City Hall, or 4/5/6 to Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall

Press conference at 1pm with speakers from Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, the Justice Committee, and family members of people murdered by NYPD.

Huffington Post coverage of Fabulous & United Press Conference: LGBTQ Communities Against Discriminatory Policing

A member of FIERCE spoke personally about how transgender and queer people are affected by stop and frisk and are often profiled with the assumption of being a sex worker.