Stop-and-Frisk Policy in New York City Violated Rights, Judge Rules
| In a repudiation of a major element in the Bloomberg administration’s crime-fighting legacy, a federal judge has found that the stop-and-frisk tactics of the New York Police Department violated the constitutional rights of tens of thousands of New Yorkers, and called for a federal monitor to oversee broad reforms. |
| In a decision issued on Monday, the judge, Shira A. Scheindlin, ruled that police officers have for years been systematically stopping innocent people in the street without any objective reason to suspect them of wrongdoing. Officers often frisked these people, usually young minority men, for weapons or searched their pockets for contraband, like drugs, before letting them go, according to the 195-page decision. |
| These stop-and-frisk episodes, which soared in number over the last decade as crime continued to decline, demonstrated a widespread disregard for the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures by the government, according to the ruling. It also found violations with the 14th Amendment. |
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Today, a federal judge found the New York City Police Department (NYPD) liable for a pattern and practice of racial profiling and unconstitutional stop-and-frisks in Floyd v. the City of New York. Floyd is a federal class action lawsuit filed against the City of New York that challenges the NYPD's stop and frisk policies and practices as violations of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments.
In this historic ruling, the court has confirmed what New Yorkers have known for years: the NYPD has been engaging in systemic racial profiling, illegally stopping and frisking hundreds of thousands of people, mostly Black and Latino New Yorkers, not on the basis of reasonable suspicion but because of their race. Moreover, the judge has ordered a court-appointed monitor to help bring the NYPD into compliance with the Constitution and ensure that the Department is responsible and accountable to the communities it serves.
Floyd was brought on behalf of the millions of New Yorkers who have been detained and searched without reasonable suspicion and because of their race since 2005. The suit also seeks to protect people who may be illegally stopped in the future. Earlier this year, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and co-counsel Beldock, Levine & Hoffman and Covington & Burling, LLP, litigated a nine-week trial in which dozens of witnesses, including NYPD officers and commanders, provided powerful evidence of a widespread pattern and practice of suspicionless and discriminatory stops and frisks by the NYPD. Community members and groups packed the courtroom each day and held daily events testifying to the impact of discriminatory policing on their communities.
Today's ruling is an important moment in the decades-long struggle, by activists, grassroots and legal organizations, and communities throughout New York City, to end discriminatory policing and bring real transparency and accountability to the NYPD. It took years of hard work to get to this landmark victory, and CCR needs your help to keep this struggle going. The NYPD won't change overnight, and CCR will continue to work with our partners and allies in the police accountability movement to ensure the NYPD abides by the court ruling. Please give today to make sure that real reform happens. This is especially important because, while Floyd focuses on illegal practices by the New York Police Department, the court's ruling could have important implications for police practices across the country.
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Thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Annette Warren Dickerson
Director of Education and Outreach
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