Stop and Frisk
Stop and Frisk Rough Draft
The Stop and Frisk program employed by the New York Police Department, gives police officers the right to initiate a stop of an individual on the street allegedly based on reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. Stop and frisk has been an NYPD tool for decades, but in recent years it has generated an increased amount of criticism and debate due to the alarming rate in which they occur communities of color, who often feel under attack and harassed by the police. Minorities even make up the majority percentage of people searched in predominantly white neighborhoods, which is why I believe that either some kind of quota or limit system should be implement where only a certain percentage of people stopped cane be of a specific race or from specific neighborhood, or New York City should just get rid of the program all together.
In 2011 alone, 700,000 New Yorkers were pulled over for stop and frisk searches. Approximately 87 percent were Hispanic or Black and of that percentage 90 percent were deemed innocent (Huffington Post). In comparison, from 2002 to 2011 Hispanics and Blacks made up 90 percent of people stopped, and 88 percent of those stopped were innocent New Yorker (New York Civil Liberties Union). If racial profiling in this case was effective that would be one thing, but there has yet to be any published research that has proven the effectiveness of this program, which is shown in the lack of arrests produced. Violent crimes in New York have decreased by 29 percent between 2001 and 2010; however, other major cities, such as Los Angeles and New Orleans, have experience larger declines without the use of stop and frisk (New York Civil Liberties Union). This is a clear example of why this program that causes more harm than good, should be abolished.
This issue is similar to the racial profiling tactics used by Transportation Security Administration officers at countless airports across the United States. Since the September 11th
The Stop and Frisk program employed by the New York Police Department, gives police officers the right to initiate a stop of an individual on the street allegedly based on reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. Stop and frisk has been an NYPD tool for decades, but in recent years it has generated an increased amount of criticism and debate due to the alarming rate in which they occur communities of color, who often feel under attack and harassed by the police. Minorities even make up the majority percentage of people searched in predominantly white neighborhoods, which is why I believe that either some kind of quota or limit system should be implement where only a certain percentage of people stopped cane be of a specific race or from specific neighborhood, or New York City should just get rid of the program all together.
In 2011 alone, 700,000 New Yorkers were pulled over for stop and frisk searches. Approximately 87 percent were Hispanic or Black and of that percentage 90 percent were deemed innocent (Huffington Post). In comparison, from 2002 to 2011 Hispanics and Blacks made up 90 percent of people stopped, and 88 percent of those stopped were innocent New Yorker (New York Civil Liberties Union). If racial profiling in this case was effective that would be one thing, but there has yet to be any published research that has proven the effectiveness of this program, which is shown in the lack of arrests produced. Violent crimes in New York have decreased by 29 percent between 2001 and 2010; however, other major cities, such as Los Angeles and New Orleans, have experience larger declines without the use of stop and frisk (New York Civil Liberties Union). This is a clear example of why this program that causes more harm than good, should be abolished.
This issue is similar to the racial profiling tactics used by Transportation Security Administration officers at countless airports across the United States. Since the September 11th