Editorial: A badge to serve not to profile

Estimates show that 5 million people, most of them African-American or Hispanic, were stopped by the NYPD in the past decade.

Estimates show that 5 million people, most of them African-American or Hispanic, were stopped by the NYPD in the past decade. Crédito: Archive

U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin delivered a firm and needed check on the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk practice when she declared that it violated the rights of minorities with indirect racial profiling. She also designated an independent monitor to immediately change this situation to oversee oversee reforms of the practice.

Statistics paint an entirely different picture than what the Bloomberg administration and the NYPD would like to portray. There is no study proving that stop-and-frisk directly correlates to lower crime. In New York, crime decreased by 29% from 2001 to 2010. On the other hand, crime rates in Los Angeles, Baltimore and New Orleans decreased by 59%, 37% and 56%, respectively, without using a similar approach to the NYPD’s.

In her decision, Scheindlin also wrote: “I also conclude that the city’s highest officials have turned a blind eye to the evidence that officers are conducting stops in a racially discriminatory manner.”

Indeed, estimates show that 5 million people, most of them African-American or Hispanic, were stopped by the NYPD in the past decade. Nine of every 10 were neither arrested nor fined. Only 0.2% of those stopped were found carrying guns. This while the use of stop-and-frisk increased by 600%.

And From 2002 to 2011, brown and black residents accounted for nearly 90% of those stopped and frisked. Even in neighborhoods were the overwhelming majority is white—such as the West Village, African-Americans and Latinos are disproportionately stopped by the NYPD.

The mayor said he will appeal the decision immediately and if that’s not possible, will do everything in his power to prevent its implementation.

This position goes against public opinion, the City Council and this major court decision. It also demonstrates the Mayor’s tunnel vision when it comes to what he thinks is best – in the face of the immense outcry around stop and frisk.

For years, reforms in the NYPD have been blocked, based on the idea that protecting public safety and upholding civil rights are mutually exclusive.

Judge Scheindlin ushered in a needed check for a police practice that had grown wildly out of control and violated Constitutional rights.

Bloomberg and Kelly should respect this decision, not fight it.

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Editorial ElDiario Stop_and_Frisk

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