Taking On Police Tactic (stop-and-frisk), Critics Hit Racial Divide
from the NY Times:
Taking On Police Tactic, Critics Hit Racial Divide
By JOHN ELIGON
Published: March 22, 2012
ALBANY — Black and Latino lawmakers, fed up over the frequency with which New York City police officers are stopping and frisking minority men, are battling what they say is a racial divide as they push legislation to rein in the practice.
The divide, they say, is largely informed by personal experience: many who object to the practice say that they have themselves been stopped by the police for reasons they believe were related to race.
Senator Kevin S. Parker, a Brooklyn Democrat, recalled several occasions when, as a high school student walking home in Flatbush, he was stopped by the police, patted down, told to empty his pockets, produce identification and divulge his destination.
Assemblyman Karim Camara, a Democrat from Brooklyn, remembers greeting a woman who was walking down a street in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, when, he said, officers in plain clothes approached him and demanded to know who he was, where he was going and whether he had any guns or drugs. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/23/nyregion/fighting-stop-and-frisk-tactic-but-hitting-racial-divide.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1332507646-0ew4rKu3U8AAiNUhxT5C8g#