Page 45 - 1Proactive Policing

Pro-Active Policing

The stop-question-and-frisk program, or stop-and-frisk, in New York City, is a practice of the New
York City Police Department in which police officers stop and question a pedestrian, then frisk

them for weapons and other contraband; this is what is known in other places in the United States
as the Terry stop. The rules for stop, question, and frisk are found in the state's criminal
procedure law section 140.50, and are based on the decision of the United States Supreme

Court in the case of Terry v. Ohio. About 685,724 people were stopped in 2011. However, the
number of stops has been reduced dramatically since then, to 22,939 in 2015.

The vast majority of those stopped were African-American or Latino. According to a 2007 study,
this disparity persists even after controlling for "precinct variability and race-specific estimates of

crime participation". Over half were aged 14-24. In 2011 police stopped 46,784 women, frisking
nearly 16,000. While women represented only 6.9% of stops in 2011, guns were found in only 59

cases; but there were 3,993 arrests of women. Guns were discovered on 0.12% and 0.13% of
women and men respectively.

During the first presidential debate, Donald Trump again argued that stop-and-frisk was an
effective deterrent in New York, and that the policy hadn't been ruled unconstitutional. It wasn't
effective, and it was ruled unconstitutional.

Three years have passed since a Federal District Court ruled that New York City‘s stop-and-
frisk program violated constitutional prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizure and

discriminated against minority citizens, who were disproportionately and unjustifiably singled out
for stops. A court-ordered reform process — overseen by an independent monitor — is off to a

promising start. But some of the thorniest and most contentious issues lie ahead.

Under the Fourth Amendment, police officers can legally stop and detain people only when they

have a reasonable suspicion that the person is committing, has committed or is about to commit a
crime. In New York, however, it became common for police officers to stop mainly minority

citizens, with no basis for suspicion, and then make up a reason.

The NYPD‘s stop-and-frisk practices raise serious concerns over racial profiling, illegal stops and

privacy rights. The Department‘s own reports on its stop-and-frisk activity confirm what many
people in communities of color across the city have long known: The police are stopping hundreds
of thousands of law abiding New Yorkers every year, and the vast majority are black and Latino.

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