Out-of-control cops

Oh man, don't get me started. Cops are above the law, they are the law, and they can do anything want, when they want.

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.

Maybe they were in a rush to adjust the racial statistics on their Stop and Frisk activities...I think they have to fill out some kind of a form.
I'm serious! This is the first time I've ever heard of Stop & Frisk on a white guy walking down the street in the daytime (or any time.)

Sorry this happened to you, and thanks for putting it out.
Plus, you're a very funny writer...

SUNY Purchase, huh? I did some time up there. Another fine example of the creative abilities of the New York State Prision and Dormitory Authority. Atleast they've built some new housing such as the Alumni Village and the 4th dorm building (by the dining hall). There used to only be three buildings over there. The other options were "The Old" and "The New". I think "The New" was supposed to be temporary but they extended the lifespan until the day after forever. There's alot of red brick up there in Purchase.

You're daughter also missed the days of the old insane asylum that was up on the hill near the gym. The used to get "escapees" down on the campus.

What does she want to major in?

Jounalism.

Your experience could be a good essay for her application . . .

Recently released statistics show the NYPD stopped more than 500,000 people last year - 5 times more than they did 4 years before. About 55% of those stopped last year were black and more than 30% were Latino. Only about 1 in 10 was white.

The Reverend Al Sharpton says he plans to file a class action lawsuit over the stops.

The City Council is about to have a hearing on Stop and Frisks, btw. I heard it on the radio (WNYC) after reading your post.

If you'd like to make a contribution to civil society, you could contact your Councilperson, or file a CCRB complaint. AND since they swiped your cigs and lottery ticket, it's actually a crime.

The cops turned to him and yelled, "Keep moving, there's a robbery in progress"

mmmhm!

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-nyroc125126764mar12,0,6636481.story

When cops go too far on stop-frisks
by ROCCO PARASCANDOLA
[email protected]

March 12, 2007

Those still trying to figure out why the police stopped a half-million people last year - a fivefold spike since 2002 - should look no further than the eighth floor at One Police Plaza.

It is there, during CompStat meetings, that police commanders are held accountable, questioned about how they are dealing with different categories of crime in their precincts. A wonderful overall concept designed to track and immediately respond to crime, CompStat forever changed the face of policing in New York City and in a number of other cities that have adapted it.

This idea of tracking everything in numbers, however, can be quite dangerous.

It is one thing when a particular tactic helps solve a crime. It is quite another when the frequency of that tactic becomes the measuring stick by which you're judged.

It is now routine, police sources involved with CompStat say, for commanders to be grilled about their stop-and-frisk numbers.

Why aren't you doing more? Are you stopping the right people? How come you stopped 50 guys two months ago and only 40 last month?

"I understand what they're trying to achieve," says one source, a high-ranking official. "It's the way it's being applied that I have a problem with. As a law enforcement official, I'm mindful that it can be effective. But at the same time we have to be mindful of people's rights, of going too far."

A second source, a supervisor who has spent most of his career working in some of the most violent precincts in the city, says the department has become so beholden to the numbers that it is losing the trust of the neighborhoods it is supposed to protect.

"All this does is create needless encounters with the community - the guy just hanging out, the guy coming home from work," the supervisor said. "That's because you get guys making stops just to keep the bosses happy. They're forcing us to engage people we wouldn't normally engage.

"It's not necessary, and all it does is get people mad at us."

The numbers, culled from the Stop, Question and Frisk reports prepared during each of the half-million police-public encounters informally known as stop-and-frisks, raise far more questions than they answer.

We know for instance, that 508,540 people were stopped last year, up dramatically from 97,296 in 2002.

But we don't know how many of these people were frisked. And we don't know how many of these stops yielded weapons or drugs.

We might have a clearer understanding for many of these stops had the NYPD not handed the City Council last month a blanket summary of numbers and charts that would confuse even the most fervent policy wonk.

Instead, we are left to wonder what became of the 186,841 people who were stopped, at least in part, last year because they showed "furtive movements," one of the listed reasons that would allow an officer to stop someone. Or how many of those stops turned out to be not someone reaching for a weapon, but rather nothing more than a guy who has to yank his pants up every half-block because he wears them oversized and baggy.

Or why, despite the huge increase in stops between 2002 and 2006, drug arrests went up just 2.9 percent while gun arrests dropped 8.2 percent.

Again, without any further explanation or context provided, the significance of these numbers is difficult to understand.

It also might be helpful to know how many of these stops were conducted by officers working overtime. Several sources said extra shifts for officers come with a price - write up a UF-250, the numerical code for Stop, Question and Frisk Reports, or kiss your overtime goodbye.

"When you make it mandatory to write 250s it creates problems," says Noel Leader, a retired sergeant and co-founder of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care. "If the chance to write a 250 is not there, the officer gets nervous and starts pushing the envelope and stopping people he shouldn't. But you can't just violate people's rights.

"You don't violate people's rights under the guise of fighting crime."

The NYPD, of course, sees things much differently.

It says aggressive policing and more careful accounting by officers helped drive up the number of stops. It also says it does not engage in racial profiling, noting that 68 percent of crimes last year involved suspects described as black and that 24 percent of suspected offenders were Hispanic.

But that's somewhat misleading because only 18 percent of last year's Stop, Question and Frisk forms involved people stopped because they "fit a relevant description."

There is, of course, a way to clarify many of these issues. Make available the raw data - the information on each stop and frisk form - so a better understanding of the stops can be established. That's already being done, actually, with the RAND Corporation recently asked to take a look. But RAND was hired by the NYPD - and will be paid by the Police Foundation. Do not expect an earth-shattering analysis, or even one not criticized as a whitewash.

The City Council can certainly ask for the more detailed data. It should, at the very least, be furious with the statistics it was given - a year late, no less.

City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., chairman of the Public Safety Committee, says he's concerned about precincts where there are many stops and few arrests, and he also says he's trying to obtain the same data being made available to RAND.

But from what he has seen so far, he believes the figures bear out the NYPD's contention that it is not engaged in racial profiling.

"I see statistics that should go a long way toward calming our communities," Vallone said. "They show police are stopping people who are described by witnesses.

"That's what I call good police work."

Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.

wow this sucks. sorry to have happen to you.

Thanks for checking back in!
So, there is no "detective badge number 725"?
It seemed like a short number . . .
(although really, I'm just hoping that you forgot that you logged the number here)

Same thing happened to me last year on Nostrand. 3 plainclothes officers jumped out of a car and did pretty much the same stuff. Scary.

You might get a better response from the DA's office. Call Mr. Dan Murphy he is your community specialist. They have a civil rights department and if their are enough people they might take the complaint. The number I have is 718-250-2805.

Hey! i went to high school too! this is great news -- can't chat long, as i'm off to harass people!

ooo, do you think i can get a free milkshake at the new ice cream place on vandy after?

They have no right to do that. All you are required by law is to state your name. They have no right to search you.

Stand up for your rights before this country is completely turned into a police state.

Subject: stop it

Please stop it already with the complaining. Big deal you were stoped by the police, if the NYPD stops doing these type of searches then the city will become what it once was a city of Crime. If this is what you want then maybe you should move because i am not looking for that type of environment. Get over it and worry about things that can help improve what the Police are trying to do here , keep this Americas safest city. The problem is if you do not understand how to battle crime you should not questions there tactics.

Subject: Wow

I mean, wow.

John, you sound like you're fine with a police state. You don't seem to mind the fact that poorly trained thugs have been given the right, by the state, to search your personal property, touch your person, and judge you. And don't tell me there's a 4th amendment because that doesn't exist anymore.

The police are the occupying army of the occupying force we call the State. They will crush and destroy anybody who steps outside the box. Witness the "don't taze me bro' " kid. The police will, with violence and intimidation, silence those who do not conform. They quell dissent, stifle so-called free speech, control behavior, invade privacy, whatever it takes to enforce the will of the State. Conform. Submit. Be silent.

Is that the world you want to live in? So you can maintain your comfortable myth of being safe and having ‘rights’?

Well I for one do not.