The NYPD has stopped tens of thousands of pedestrians since Mayor Eric Adams took office – claiming someone “fit a relevant description” or citing a vague reason like “other.” Just 5% of them were white, revealing racial disparities even starker than at the height of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s “stop and frisk” era.
These takeaways are according to new data the New York Civil Liberties Union shared with Gothamist. They come as the city re-examines the difficult legacy of stop and frisk a decade after a federal judge ruled that its application by Bloomberg’s police department was unconstitutional. The rate of the stops dropped dramatically in Bloomberg’s last year and even further under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, who campaigned on the issue.
But Adams, a former cop who ran on a message of public safety, said during his 2021 campaign that stop and frisk could be a useful policing tool if applied properly.
Cops are stopping dramatically fewer people than they did in the Bloomberg years. Just 1% of people stopped during stop and frisk’s height in 2011 are detained now, after the 2013 federal court ruling that found the practice discriminated against New Yorkers of color. But police stops under Adams, which are at their highest point since 2015, are trending upward.
An NYPD spokesperson said the department does not direct officers to make a certain number of stops, but that police make stops “with increasing levels of precision” based on officers’ observations. The anonymous spokesperson also said the police’s authority to stop, question and possibly frisk an individual was “firmly established” by the U.S. Supreme Court Case Terry vs. Ohio more than 50 years ago.
The spokesperson went on to say the department has multiple layers of oversight and training, including audits, data analysis and the review of body camera footage it uses to investigate stops and takes corrective action where warranted.
The statement adds that the department carries out all…
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