New York's de Blasio would drop stop-and-frisk appeal: source
By Edith Honan and Joseph Ax
NEW YORK | Fri Nov 1, 2013 5:11pm EDT
(Reuters) - Leading New York City mayoral contender Bill de Blasio, a longtime critic of the police stop-and-frisk tactic would drop the city's legal challenge of court-ordered reforms to the program if elected, a person close to the campaign said on Friday.
That would make Thursday's move by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to freeze court-ordered reforms to the controversial program a fleeting victory for outgoing New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has defended the practice, saying that it has led to a steep decline in crime.
A federal court judge two months ago ruled that the program amounted to "indirect racial profiling" that resulted in the disproportionate and discriminatory stopping of blacks and Hispanics.
New York City appealed that decision, leading to Thursday's appeals court ruling that the judge who found the police tactic unconstitutional, U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin, had "ran afoul" of the judicial code of conduct and froze her ruling from taking effect.
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