Stop-and-frisk debate heats up in NYC
NEW YORK – The heated debate over New York’s stop-andfrisk policy, which police say helps curb violence and which detractors say targets young blacks and Latinos, has grown hotter following a spate of shootings and sharp words between city officials at odds over the practice.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg this week blasted the New York Civil Liberties Union, which has gone to court to try to block stop-and-frisk, saying: “They sit there and they pontificate and they complain. Our police officers put their lives on the line every single day.”
Civil Liberties Union president Donna Lieberman responded with a statement that said in part: “It’s a lot easier to trash the NYCLU than to acknowledge the widespread dissatisfaction the community feels with an NYPD that acts like it’s above the law and accountable to no one.”
Bloomberg’s comments were made to reporters after he had spoken at the Greater Allen AME Cathedral in Queens. The borough was the scene of a triple shooting on July 7, when three men – two of them inside a bullet-riddled vehicle and a third on the street nearby – were killed. Police say the killer used an AK-47 automatic rifle.
A week earlier, a 3-year-old boy was shot in the leg while playing in a sprinkler in Brooklyn. He is recovering. Last month, three men were found shot to death inside a car in Upper Manhattan. Other recent victims have included a Brooklyn teenager who was shot in the head last month and died in the hospital on July 10, his 15th birthday.
In the past week, there have been nearly 80 shootings in the city, and shootings are up about 12 per cent over the corresponding time last year.
In his comments to parishioners at the church, Bloomberg addressed the controversy over stop-and-frisk, saying it had led to thousands of guns and tens of thousands of knives being taken off the streets. “At the same time, stops must be made for legitimate reasons, and no person should ever, ever be racially profiled,” he added.
Critics, though, say that’s exactly what is happening, and some say stop-and-frisk has contributed to rising gun violence in New York by eroding people’s trust in police. Under the policy, police may search people stopped on the street who are suspected of criminal activity.
“Stop-and-frisk has created an environment where young people are not talking to our police officers every day,” said Sen. Eric Adams, a former police officer. Adams said the city, in an effort to save money, had shuttered the usual summer outlets for young people, such as community centres and playgrounds.
“Our young people are using ‘poor man lounges’ – the street corners – as a place to socialize, and they’re getting caught up in mischief,” he said. “We are doing nothing for young people in this city, and we expect them to not get in mischief.”