Stop and frisk is unconstitutional
In Floyd v. NYC, the court ruled that stop-and-frisk practices in the City of New York are in contravention with the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments (Silverstein par. 1). The ruling was reached by the court based on evidence obtained from statistical analysis of more than four million stops in the City of New York from 2004 to 2012. When interrogating the issue, the court of appeal examined the term “suspicion” in relation to whether, based on the conduct under probe, it was predictive of criminal activity (Boyette and Martinez par. 2-4). The court refused to go by the police evidence, such as those who were stopped were acting in a suspicious manner.
On the allegation of race discrimination, the court supported the analysis that was carried out and ruled that the benchmark used by police in NYC was flawed (Center For Constitution and Human Rights par. 1-3). Beyond the empirical and statistical evidence, the court indicated that there was evidence of racial profiling through an assessment of practices in various institutions, particularly the premeditated inconsistency of the police to patterns of racial profiling in the practices of stop-and-frisk.
What also emerged during the case was that there was sufficient proof that officials at NYPD were more motivated to conduct the process based on racial lines. In the end, the court held that all these factors resulted from the fact that the NYPD failed to train, take disciplinary actions against police who violate provisions of the law with respect to practices of racial profiling or discrimination (Rudovsky and Rosenthal par. 3-5).
Stop and frisk does not result in a safety
Since it was given legal weight in the early 2000s, no study has proven or can prove the success of the stop-and-frisk policy in New York City. In fact, the almost negligible number of summonses, arrests, and guns recovered show that the policy has not been successful. In addition, crime data do not prove or support the allegation that since it came into effect, safety has increased in New York City (Rudovsky and Rosenthal par. 3).
Whilst from 2000 to 2011, the rate of violent offenses dropped by twenty-nine percent in New York City, other large cities and towns in the United States recorded larger declines in violent crimes without the policy of stop and frisk. For instance, in Los Angeles, abuses dropped by fifty-nine percent, New Orleans recorded a drop of fifty-six percent, Dallas recorded a drop of forty-nine percent, and Baltimore recorded a drop of thirty-seven percent.
Evidently, abuses associated with Stop-and-Frisk wear away trust between the security personnel and people, an aspect that undermines community policing (Rudovsky and Rosenthal par. 4). In 2000, according to Ray Kelly, the former NYPD official, in the mid-1990s, the cooperation between communities and police was positive than the current situation. This was the time of community policing. However, with the adoption of stop-and-frisk tactics, community distrust has been increasing. Before Bloomberg was elected mayor of New York City, police had recorded close to 600 cases of people who had succumbed to murder, and this number only reduced by less than 100 during his time. This means that for a period of ten years, stop-and-frisk was not a success.
Stop and frisk has not reduced victims of gun shootings
It is a fact that dispossessing people off guns saves a life. However, under the stop and frisk program, in 2011, out of about 700 000 stops in New York City, around 700 guns were found (National Association of School Psychologists 2-4). This does save a life, but not as glorified by the former regime. The practice of stop and frisk has never achieved the aims for which it was established, that is, reduce criminal activities in the city. For instance, in 2002, there were about 98,000 stops, and yet about 2000 people were victims of gun shootings. About ten years later, despite stops having increased to about 700 000, about 2000 people were victims of gun shootings.
In all stops made, it is only in about 0.199 percent that guns are found. When compared with the dedication of police, investment, and political support, that is an incredibly petite outcome (NYCPD 2-5). The rate of guns or people who own guns in New York City has been on the increase, although the stop and frisk program has grown by about six hundred percent under the former mayor, Michael Bloomberg.
As per the information provided by the NYPD, before former mayor Michael Bloomberg took office, there were about 11,058 cases of murder, but this number decreased twofold during his term to reach 5,430 cases. This, therefore, infers that crime had reduced by half, which is not the case. When all these crimes are classified accordingly, then it will be realized that major crimes such as gun shooting and murder remained the same for the time stop and frisk was applied.
Works Cited
Boyette, Chris and Michael Martinez. Court blocks ruling that altered NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy. 2013. Web.
Center For Constitution and Human Rights. Floyd, et al. v. City of New York, et al. 2013.
NYCPD. Murder In New York City. 2011. Web.
Rudovsky, David and Lawrence Rosenthal. The Constitutionality of Stop-and-Frisk in New York City. 2013. Web.
Silverstein, Jason. Is New York’s ‘Stop and Frisk’ Law Also a Public Health Hazard. 2013. Web.