Police are using a strategy known as “stop and frisk” to reduce crime in New York City and other major metropolitan areas around the nation. The policy involves police officers stopping and patting down people they consider suspicious in an effort to preemptively stop crime, reports the New York Times.
Critics of this practice say the majority of the stops do not result in the discovery of illegal possessions or evidence of any wrongdoing. New York City police strongly defend this tactic as an effective way to bring down crime and get illegal guns off the streets, according to the Times.
In the first quarter of 2012, there were 203,500 street stops, up from 183,326 in the same quarter last year, the Times reports. Of those stopped and frisked, 85 percent were black or Hispanic Questionable Stop and Frisk Tactics Adopted by Cities Across the Nation men, which has caught the attention of civil rights groups, city council members and minority community leaders.
In 2011, New York City police stopped 46,784 women and frisked nearly 16,000, according to a New York Times analysis of police records. Guns were found in 59 frisks — about one third of one percent of the time.
Civil rights leaders have argued that the low gun-recovery rates strongly indicate that the stop and frisk encounters are unjustified.
A federal judge has said the city’s records indicate that many of these stops did not meet constitutional standards for searches. Police officers are not allowed to search the pockets of citizens based on a hunch or job performance quota; however, they may pat someone down if there is a reason to believe that the person is carrying an illegal weapon.
Several groups, including the NAACP, labor unions, religious groups and several ethnic and cultural organizations, continue to organize protests and marches to rally against the practice of stop and frisk.
One particular demonstration in June 2012 was led by Rev. Al Sharpton and other civil rights leaders. More than 299 organizations endorsed the silent march, which was noted for its size and diversity.
