Putting NYPD’s Stop and Frisk on Trial | Open Society Foundations (OSF)

13.3.13

Putting NYPD’s Stop and Frisk on Trial | Open Society Foundations (OSF): Next Monday, the Center for Constitutional Rights will head to trial in our landmark case, Floyd et al. v. the City of New York, challenging the New York City Police Department’s practice of unconstitutional stops and frisks. The number of stops has grown exponentially in the last decade, largely to meet quota driven numbers rather than community needs.

Under the Constitution, officers cannot stop someone, unless they have reasonable articulable suspicion that the person was involved in or was about to engage in a crime. It is only legal to frisk someone when the officer reasonably believes the individual possesses a weapon or contraband or otherwise poses an immediate threat.

That is what our Constitution requires under the Fourth Amendment’s ban on unreasonable search and seizure, but the NYPD only gives lip service to those most basic principles of justice, respect and dignity.