Class Action Suit in Stop and Frisk Searches

About a dozen Blacks have filed a $200 million class action lawsuit, in Brooklyn Federal Court, based on claims that the NYPD discriminates against Blacks in conducting stop and frisk searches.

I had a recent post containing statistics on the searches, which showed that far more NY Blacks are stop and frisked compared to Whites. New statistics show that less than 10% of all stop and frisk searches ended with a formal accusation against a citizen.

If you stop enough people of any race, you could end up formally accusing less than 10% of those individuals with a crime. So, this tactic pretty much amounts to guessing (and the harassment of many innocent citizens).

Apparently, the number of searches in NY increased after September 11th, so it’s interesting that Blacks, and not those appearing to be Middle Eastern, are the one suffering more searches. The investigation of stop and frisk searches found that one precinct, in the Bronx, stopped 2,747 Blacks and only arrested 3 individuals out of such a high number of searches. Clearly, with results that poor, far too many law abiding citizens are falling victim to the searches. I’ll keep you posted on this law suit.

Source: NY Daily News, Monday, Feb. 19, 2007, Frisks are High Tix Risk is Low, by Benjamin Lesser and Adam Nichols