NYPD Stop-And-Frisks Increase 13 Percent In 2011, 4 Million New Yorkers Patted Down Since 2004

2011's seen a 13 percent increase in New Yorkers getting patted down by cops. As of September the NYPD has stop-and-frisked 514,000 people. And according to The New York Civil LIberties Union, a staggering 4 million people have been stopped since the controversial program started in 2004.

Despite a lawsuit against the department claiming the stop-and-frisks discriminate against minorities (in 2008, 80 percent of those stopped were black or latino) and a call from city officials, including Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, for the federal government to investigate the program, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne defended the practice this week as a success in curbing crime.

"Police stops comport proportionately with violent crime and save lives, most of young minority men who are disproportionately the victims of murder and other violent crime," he said, according to The New York Daily News.

Donna Lieberman, the NYCLU's executive director, is worried the searches are invasive. "Entire neighborhoods in NYC are turning into Constitution- free zones," she said. "A walk to the subway or corner deli should not carry the assumption that you will be confronted by police, but that is a disturbing new reality for many New Yorkers."

A NYCLU statement also notes that of the 152,311 times the NYPD stopped and interrogated New Yorkers between July 1 and September 30, 88 percent of those encounters did not result in arrests or tickets.

Comments

[Realist2011]

07:19 PM on 12/04/2011

New York can live without my tourist dollars. Stopping and frisking is an illegal search. Since I would not accept being stopped and frisked, I'll just stay away from NY until Constitutional rights are reinstated.

[flatbushqueen]

05:44 AM on 12/05/2011

As a NYC resident I can assure you that there is no such thing as refusing a stop & frisk. If you refuse you will be arrested for disorderly conduct. So its a no win solution.

[Rollingstone423]

10:32 AM on 12/04/2011

NYC cops are Not that smart

[MIKEinNYC]

07:03 PM on 12/02/2011

Some of our guys are even frisked by the cops.

[tribilin219]

03:02 PM on 12/02/2011

4 Million, And that was for last week only, This week end they want to break that Record.

[field-man]

12:49 PM on 12/02/2011

they are looking for cigarettes and salt shakers

[LAMolina]

12:36 AM on 12/02/2011

The NYPD Stop, Question and Frisk policy; is a policy that has disenfranchised the minority citizens of this great city. The policy as drafted had the intention of providing a transparency, which should have lead to stronger accountability between the police department and the residents of this city. However, the incentivized belief that high numbers of stops lead to lowering of crime is in my opinion flawed. This incentivized structure is documented in two studies; one conducted at the NYPD expense by the RAND Corporation and another by the Columbia University Law School. Unfortunately the recognition of this incentive is not the fault of the policy, but the fault of executive management of the NYPD. A management that is micromanaged to the point that professional independent thought has been eliminated and will leave the NYPD unprepared in the wake of this current administration’s departure.

About the writer: Louis A. Molina is a USMC Veteran and a Detective with the NYPD, who has worked in Organized Crime, Internal Affairs and the Detective Bureau. He has handled numerous complex criminal investigations to include infiltration of criminal groups as an Undercover Police Officer. He is currently assigned to the Police Commissioner’s Office of Management Analysis & Planning. He holds a BA from Chaminade University, MPA from Marist College, has studied at the University of Cambridge and is currently pursuing a MA from Columbia University. The above views are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of the NYPD.

[jmiller848]

05:48 PM on 12/02/2011

Great artical. I agree with you 100%. I am a Constable in Pennsylvania and have been following all your articals on the problems you are having. I would like to wish you and the members God Speed in solving them

Jim Miller

[Lastdancer]

08:12 AM on 12/04/2011

I agree with my fellow member. Studies show that this is a flawed policy. The NYPD does not care that the policy does not work, they just care about numbers. IT seems fair to say that the NYPD does not care about the communities they serve.

[OutToLunch]

11:04 PM on 12/01/2011

For those here cheering NY's stop-and-frisk policy, consider:

"What are the chances of getting away with murder in New York City? About 41 percent.

The NYPD solved 59 percent of homicides last year -- down 8 percentage points from the year before, and about 5 points less than the national average in 2008, according to data obtained under a Freedom of Information request.

The "clearance rate" -- cases where arrests are made -- plummeted despite detectives having to investigate a near-record low 471 slayings, police records show."

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/this_job_is_murder_Io0fUMUyvKjq8r9zSH1a6L


Perhaps the cops would catch more murderers if they weren't busy shaking people down for weed...

[fredimessina]

12:59 PM on 12/01/2011

I personally have lived in NYC all my life and have never been stopped and frisked. However, I find it kind of comical that this is a problem now that the NYPD is doing this to EVERYBODY and not just to minorities. This has been happening for years to New York City's minority population and nobody was outraged like they are now.

[Emanuel T Olff]

10:09 AM on 12/01/2011

The NYPD utilizes a system called CompStat short for COMPuter STATistics or COMParative STATistics, a management philosophy or organizational management tool. Officers are expected to increase previous performance and are often penalized for not meeting expectations. Compstat has reduced policing to a numbers game! Let's keep in mind that the top city manager (mayor Bloomberg) made his billions automating the financial markets, public management has been reduced to algorithms and spreadsheets...

[dpkjj]

11:33 PM on 12/01/2011

Compstat did not "reduce policing to a numbers game." It is the mis-use and abuse of what could be a useful tool for identifying the what, where and how of crime in a precinct. The problem in is poor management, not the tool itself. Anything can (and often is) misused.

[FormerlyTCnSRQ]

09:45 AM on 12/01/2011

Underated police force that has been shown however to have some deep flaws with the OWS movement. The tendency to use violence so quickly is worrisome. last I checked this is not Russia

[Martin06]

09:39 AM on 12/01/2011

I am in NY for a short vacation. I have never seen so many police in any country. There are cops everywhere. Yesterday, Obama came to collect money from the 1%, the streets were closed, cops manned barriers and let no one cross the street, barking orders. It freaked me out. If NY is not a police state than what is?

[BloodStripe]

12:04 PM on 12/01/2011

Your Trip Advisor Questionnaire: So.... did you enjoy your visit? You going back again anytime soon?

[Sock De Jour]

09:16 AM on 12/01/2011

Unbelievable. This is not a good sign, and this is not preventing crime and it can't possibly be proven that it prevents crime.

[realitycheck101a]

02:44 AM on 12/04/2011

LOVE your micro-bio ! ! !

[Peter007]

09:03 AM on 12/01/2011

We used to have a constitutional provision that prohibited unreasonable searches.

What happened?

[American Pride 50]

01:13 AM on 12/03/2011

It's not a stop, question and search. Your constitutional right is still in tact. It's stop, question and frisk. You know like when you go through airport scanners and you get frisked after your belt buckle goes off. I never need to worry or complain because I have nothing to hide.

[OutToLunch]

09:43 AM on 12/03/2011

"It's not a stop, question and search...It's stop, question and frisk."

So "searching" and "frisking" are 2 different things? Are you kidding??

[rudabaga]

09:04 AM on 12/03/2011

The Supreme Court gutted the 4th Amendment over the years to absolutely nothing. We really don't have a 4th Am anymore sadly. The public outcry was small because of all the rhetoric about people "getting off on a technicality." That technicality was the 4th Am. So they got rid of it.

[bigshotprof]

08:18 AM on 12/01/2011

And that's just by strangers in the west village. the cops are even worse.

[Kurt Reply]

06:57 AM on 12/01/2011

A liberal mayor, in a liberal state, with a liberal police union, and some of the highest government tax rates is the site of the loss of civil liberty? Say it ain't so Joe!

[Martin06]

09:43 AM on 12/01/2011

Liberal mayor? The dude is billionaire. There are no liberal billionaires. A liberal police union? They bleed the city dry. 20 years and retirement. Highest taxes and highest prices, that's for sure, but to equate that with liberalism is surely misinformed.

[Yossarian22]

10:44 AM on 12/01/2011

Bloomberg is not a liberal and neither is the police union nor the state.