Street Stops in New York Fall as Unease Over Tactic Grows

[babsbunny]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/04/nyregion/number-of-police-street-stops-falls-34-percent.html?_r=1

The number of times police officers stopped, questioned and frisked people on the streets of New York City has dropped significantly, by more than 34 percent, in recent months, and a key contributing factor appears to be that police commanders have grown wary of pushing for such stops at daily roll calls, police supervisors said.

At the same time, a general feeling of unease about the tactic by officers on the street — who have seen widespread criticism of so-called stop-and-frisks in the news media and by the courts — has also contributed to the drop, some say, with officers simply choosing not to question people they might have stopped before.

[twizzler]

1. In my opinion

these so called stop and frisk for no apparent reason other than the person looked suspicious is unconstitutional and Bloomberg is a fucking fascist for allowing this to happen.

[surrealAmerican]

3. Welcome to DU.

I agree. I don't see any way "stop and frisk" could be constitutional.

[twizzler]

4. Thank you

Here in the west, we have what are called DUI checkpoints they set up on highways and stop every car coming into town to see if you've been drinking or not, that's, in my opinion, also unconstitutional. I thought the police had to have reasonable suspicion or probable cause to stop you for a violation.
Unfortunately, the SC has ruled that these checkpoints are constitutional. We seem to be losing our freedoms more and more each year.
Really sad.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

2. Interesting. But Commissioner Kelly is still committed to the tactic and disagrees with the analysis

For their part, New York’s police officials said that the department was not stepping away from the tactic and that the lower numbers merely reflected changes in the way armies of rookies were assigned to high-crime areas. Fewer officers have been assigned over the past few months to Operation Impact, a program that puts recent graduates of the Police Academy in high-crime neighborhoods with instructions to seek out suspicious behavior. These new officers conduct 30 percent to 40 percent of the department’s street stops, Mr. Kelly said.

The commissioner told reporters on Friday that he did not believe the decline in street stops was in any way connected to the criticism the tactic had attracted. He also said that the department had not instructed officers to back away from conducting street stops when appropriate.

Mr. Kelly acknowledged that the practice had come under scrutiny but said he did not believe that recent criticism by civil rights leaders played a role in the drop-off. He pointed to enhanced training and the “draw down” of Operation Impact officers. “Obviously, there is attention and scrutiny on it,” Mr. Kelly said. “That’s really why we engaged in the new training evolution.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/04/nyregion/number-of-police-street-stops-falls-34-percent.html?_r=2

[Baitball Blogger]

5. This is all about protecting the next generation of leaders.

'cuz, getting them when they're young, loading them up with police records defines them for life.