Stop-and-Frisk Practice Violated Rights, Judge Rules

[spanone]

put in the 'no shit sherlock' category......
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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.

To fix the constitutional violations, Judge Scheindlin of Federal District Court in Manhattan said she intended to designate an outside lawyer, Peter L. Zimroth, to monitor the Police Department’s compliance with the Constitution.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/13/nyregion/stop-and-frisk-practice-violated-rights-judge-rules.html?hp&_r=0&pagewanted=print

[X_Digger]

1. And racist as shit to boot.

Only 9-11% of those stopped are white. 88-91% of those stopped are not ticketed or arrested.

She noted that about 88 percent of the stops result in the police letting the person go without an arrest or ticket, a percentage so high, she said, that it suggests there was not a credible suspicion to suspect the person of criminality in the first place.

[JimDandy]

4. Wow... And this was going on for DECADES?

This is horrible. Why did it take so long for a judge to stop this illegal, racist practice by the police? Sounds like a class action suit waiting to happen.

[X_Digger]

6. Mostly a 'the ends justifies the means' mentality, I believe. n/t

[spanone]

9. that was precisely bloomberg's response to this ruling....said the judge didn't mention...

how the crime rate had been reduced....fuck you bloomberg, illegal search & seizure is just that.

[cali]

2. good. this is first step to stopping this ugly, racist shit.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. K&R

[woo me with science]

5. A real judge left.

Not yet a corporate pod person.

This is good news.

[X_Digger]

7. kick.

I'm happy to see more folks talking about and rec'cing a thread on this issue. 'Stop and Frisk' threads tend to drop like a stone.

[beevul]

8. K&R N/T

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. yes it did

[LittleBlue]

11. Out of control police state

How did something like this ever happen in America?