THAT'S WHERE MOST OF THE CRIME IS...!?

[abayridgeguy]

Cops stopped and questioned nearly one-third of Brownsville residents last year

Police stops in Brooklyn is a ‘tale of two cities' says NYCLU official
By Simone Weichselbaum / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS / Wednesday, May 16, 2012, 5:03 PM.

Brownsville resident Benjamin Cruz, 50, said he has been stopped by cops a number of times...
Cops stopped and questioned nearly one-third of Brownsville’s residents last year - the highest out of the city’s 76 police precincts.

Six miles away in Borough Park only 2 % of the neighborhood’s population was quizzed by cops in 2011 - the lowest number in the New York Civil Liberties Union citywide ranking analyzing “stop-and-frisk” NYPD data.

“There is a set of rules for people of color; and a set of rules for whites,” said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the NYCLU.(No, there's a set of rules for thugs and a set for law-abiding citizens) “Policing in New York is a tale of two cities.”

Lieberman said Brooklyn’s divide shows what’s wrong with the controversial policing practice now at the center of a heated debate on whether racism fuels its widespread use.

“No matter how you slice it, counting the number of stops, or the stops per capita, blacks and Latinos were targets,” Lieberman said.

In Brownsville, where 25,167 people were stopped by cops, older men complained of being harassed in the neighborhood, which is 96% black and Latino.

[b]“I was smoking (dope?) outside my building. This cop said I couldn’t be there. He thought I didn’t know the law,” said Benjamin Cruz, 50, living in the housing project with his two young grandsons. “They are really getting out of hand out here.”

Neighborhood police sources said race isn’t enough to warrant a stop. Rather, officers focus on suspects’ descriptions and more obvious signs of criminal activity like young men sporting beads and handkerchiefs. “You have to watch out for the colors that they wear,” said a Brownsville beat cop noting that the area’s high concentration of public housing is a breeding ground for gang crime.

Still, the NYCLU found more racial disparity tied to the borough.

Officers in East New York - a largely black neighborhood - stopped the most people citywide counting 31,100 run-ins; while Greenpoint - a largely white neighborhood - was at the bottom of the list with 2,023 citywide.

“It is based on race, and it is ineffective,” said Councilman Jumaane Williams (D-East Flatbush. “It is either accidental, incidental, or purposeful racism.

“It boggles my mind how they can continue this policy.”

But the Police Dept, is not backing off the practice. (GOOD!)

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said cop stops were up 10 % in the first four months of 2012 and that murders are down compared to the same period in 2011 when a record high of nearly 686,000 cop stops were logged
A Greenpoint police source said local officers don’t stop a lot of people because guns and drugs aren’t a major problem in the quiet leafy community home to mainly older Polish families and new hipster transplants.

“If you have less crime, few people are targeted,” the source said.

[VirginiaDave]

Trust me, the lack of stop and frisks in Borough Park isn't because they're white.

[¡Ya Basta!]

Interesting fact I read- whites stopped during a stop and frisk search were more likely to have an illegal weapon than blacks who were stopped. The evidence at this point is clear- stop and frisk is racist. And there is a growing movement to end the practice. There will be a huge fathers day march against stop and frisk next month.

[VirginiaDave]

Yes, it's purely race. It has nothing to do with the fact that Brownsville and East New York are hell holes. There's no irony in protesting this on fathers day. I bet if there were more present and active fathers in those areas, their kids wouldn't end up criminals. Instead, the practice of men being sperm donors and the women working two jobs to raise their bastard children ends up with this. Go protest the absent fathers on fathers day, not the cops who have to clean up their mess.

[nyujoe]

The two areas in question are indeed high in crime, however, having spent time in both of these neighborhoods I can tell you that there is abuse with the stop and frisk program. Talk to any male under the age of sixty and he will tell you that it not uncommon for him to frisked several times a week. I've heard stories from teens who tell me that they're frisked on their way to school and when they return home.

Even if this method could show a dramatic reduction in crime (which it hasn't) it's still gone too far.

[abayridgeguy]

Yes, it's purely race. It has nothing to do with the fact that Brownsville and East New York are hell holes. There's no irony in protesting this on fathers day. I bet if there were more present and active fathers in those areas, their kids wouldn't end up criminals. Instead, the practice of men being sperm donors and the women working two jobs to raise their bastard children ends up with this. Go protest the absent fathers on fathers day, not the cops who have to clean up their mess.

Dave is funny and CORRECT!

[abayridgeguy]

nyujoe Posts: Even if this method could show a dramatic reduction in crime (which it hasn't) it's still gone too far.

It certainly HAS led to a reduction in crime!

The invasive police strategy that pacified New York City
By Richard Cohen, Published: May 14


New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has a new kind of crime statistic. It is not the astoundingly low number of murders committed in his fair city — 471 in 2009 vs. about 2,000 per year in the 1980s — but murders not committed in the last decade: 5,600. Those people are alive today by the grace of God and the policing policies of the Bloomberg administration, particularly what is known as stop-and-frisk. New York City is heaven on earth possibly because it is a certain kind of hell for young black and Hispanic men.

Here, too, the mayor has his statistics, and they are as fittingly gargantuan as the city itself: 685,724. That is the number of times last year the police stopped someone on the street and frisked him (or the occasional her) for weapons.

[nyujoe]

Crime was going down before the stop and frisk program was put in place. It has also gone down in every section of the city. Bay Ridge was at one time the car theft capital of the city. It doesn't happen as often. There is no active stop and frisk program in our neighborhood. So what led to the reduction?

[¡Ya Basta!]

Its funny because I am sure VD and the old fart at Kelly's Bar don't even know anyone from East New York.

[Observateur]

Trust me, the lack of stop and frisks in Borough Park isn't because they're white.

It's because your tax $ funds Shomrim.

[nyujoe]

The Shomrim is not the reason why there is no stop and frisk in Boro Park. The program is not used in low crime/mostly white neighborhoods. In fact I cannot think of a single neighborhood in this city that is majority white where the police use stop and frisk on a regular basis.

[Observateur]

But Shomrim effectively keeps potential friskees out of the neighborhood.

[nyujoe]

That they do. But, again, Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst and other surrounding neighborhoods do not have a Shomrim, nor do they have a regular stop and frisk program.

[abayridgeguy]

Changes outlined NYPD's 'stop, question and frisk' policy

By Jordana Ossad, CNN/ updated 4:00 PM EDT, Thu May 17, 2012


New York (CNN) -- After mounting public pressure from advocacy groups and a class action lawsuit against the New York Police Department, Commissioner Ray Kelly detailed changes Thursday to the department's much-criticized "stop, question and frisk" policy.
In a letter to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Kelly outlined new policies in an effort to "increase public confidence." Under the policies, officers will report encounters at a local level, and there will be training curriculum and videos for officers, along with programs reaching out to the community.

Kelly said the department prohibits racial profiling and aims to ensure a "greater level of scrutiny" by having captains of precincts "personally conducting an audit of the Stop, Question and Frisk report worksheets that have been prepared within his or her command."

"I believe these measures will help us more closely monitor the daily street encounter activity of precinct personnel," Kelly said in the letter.

A review of the training curriculum in question-and-frisk encounters resulted in a new course for officers to instruct them on conducting a "lawful stop," and the use of informational cards during an encounter providing a written explanation of why individuals are stopped and questioned by the police, the letter said.

Kelly also described a new video of street encounters that explains the steps a police officer should take when conducting a question-and-frisk encounter.

Separately, a new community outreach effort by the department will teach "vulnerable youth" basic computer skills, the letter said.

"The goal of this program is to provide these young people, who have come to the attention of the police department through various circumstances, such as being a truant or having been exposed to domestic violence, with a working knowledge of the latest business-related computer technologies," Kelly said. He added that he hopes this will help "foster positive interactions between these teenagers and police officers."

He said he hopes to broaden these programs in the city.

Quinn issued a statement thanking Kelly for the policy changes but said more work needs to be done "to bridge the divide between the NYPD and the communities they serve."

Donna Lieberman -- executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, which has described the question-and-frisk practice as "unlawful and racially biased" -- slammed Commissioner Kelly's letter as a "desperate PR attempt."

"The NYPD is out of control, and the culture and practices of the department need a full-scale overhaul so that the fundamental rights of all New Yorkers are respected and all communities can trust and respect the police," Lieberman said in a statement on his organization's website.

The letter from Kelly comes one day after U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin granted class-action status to a lawsuit filed by people who have been stopped by the NYPD, according to court documents. The lawsuit claims the police department engages in a "practice of unlawfully stopping and frisking people in violation of their Fourth Amendment right to be free from unlawful searches and seizures and their Fourteenth Amendment right to freedom from discrimination on the basis of race."

The department released numbers over the weekend that touted the impact of their policy, claiming it has contributed to a spike in the number of firearms confiscated and coincided with what is shaping up to be a historically low murder rate for the city.

Comparing numbers from the first three months of 2012 to the same period last year, the number of such stops increased 10% while the number of illicit guns taken away from people went up 31%, according to a statement from police Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne.

New York's murder rate had plunged 21% year-to-date as of last Friday, meaning that if the current trend continues, the number of murders for the year in the city would be the lowest since such statistics first were recorded, as such, in 1963.

"New York City continues to be the safest big city in America, and one of the safest of any size, with significantly less crime per capita ... than even small cities," the department said.

ONCE THEY MODIFY THIS SUCCESSFUL PROGRAM - YOU'LL SEE CRIME w/GUNS INCREASE!!!

[abayridgeguy]

New York police tout improving crime numbers to defend frisking policy

CRIME STATISTICS
May 13, 2012|By the CNN Wire Staff


New York police on Sunday touted the impact of their much-criticized "stop, question and frisk" policy, claiming it has contributed to a spike in the number of firearms confiscated and coincided with what is shaping up to be a historically low murder rate.

Comparing numbers from the first three months of 2012 to the same period last year, the number of such stops increased 10% while the number of illicit guns taken away went up 31%, according to a New York Police Department statement from Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne...
Meanwhile, New York's murder rate has plunged 21% year-to-date as of last Friday -- meaning, if the current trend continues, the yearly number of murders in the city would be the lowest since such statistics first were recorded, as such, in 1963.
"New York City continues to be the safest big city in America, and one of the safest of any size, with significantly less crime per capita ... than even small cities," the department said.

Police cited Operation Impact and the "stop and frisk" policy as key reasons for the improving crime statistics. But the policy has been criticized sharply by some as grounds for racial profiling.

Donna Lieberman -- executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, which has described the practice as "unlawful and racially biased" -- blasted the latest release of data, accusing the police department of trying to "massage the numbers to make this look like an effective and worthwhile program."

"What (this policy) does is terrorize moms of color about the well-being of their sons, who have to navigate how to survive unwarranted intrusion into their activities by a police department for doing absolutely nothing wrong," she said Sunday in a statement.

Added Darius Charney, senior staff attorney for the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, "It is mind-boggling that, after years of public outcry and in the face of strong evidence that stop-and-frisk violates people's rights and does not make them safer, the NYPD has doubled down on this discriminatory and ineffective practice."

Another critic, City Council member Jumaane Williams, earlier this year questioned how the policy affects the police department's relations with minorities in the city.
"Communities are losing trust with the police, which is one of the biggest crime-fighting tools that we have," Williams said.

[A_Malicous_Duck]

That they do. But, again, Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst and other surrounding neighborhoods do not have a Shomrim, nor do they have a regular stop and frisk program.

Apparently you've never hooked up in the bathroom at the salty dog.

[A_Malicous_Duck]

But Shomrim effectively keeps potential friskees out of the neighborhood.

Shit, I've got a beard as bushy as theirs and they still look at me like I was handing out free bacon.

[abayridgeguy]

But Shomrim effectively keeps potential friskees out of the neighborhood.

Shit, I've got a beard as bushy as theirs and they still look at me like I was handing out free bacon.

ROFLMAO

[VirginiaDave]

Its funny because I am sure VD and the old fart at Kelly's Bar don't even know anyone from East New York.

Two of my employees are from East New York, smart guy.

[VirginiaDave]

But Shomrim effectively keeps potential friskees out of the neighborhood.

Except their own who they rally behind.

[A_Malicous_Duck]

Its funny because I am sure VD and the old fart at Kelly's Bar don't even know anyone from East New York.

Two of my employees are from East New York, smart guy.

bummer

[VirginiaDave]

I know. I hope we get more work so they can move to a lower crime area.