Stop And Frisk Policy In New York City

Over the course of the stop and frisk policy in New York City, public opinion has varied. At the beginning of its implementation, the public was generally in favor of the practice as the city began to see significant decreases in the rate of violent crime. Proponents of the policy are quick to point not only to city-to-city comparisons, where New York City’s crime rates significantly excel, but also the comparison between New York City and the rest of the state. In these comparisons, New York City’s crime rates dropped while the rates in the state remained relatively stable. Moreover, proponents might highlight the lack of alternative explanations. Bellin (2014) writes, “While general theories about the United States’ declining crime rates

At that time, Floyd was currently in the process of being decided and stop and frisk was a major campaign issue. “If there's one issue that won Bill de Blasio the New York Democratic mayoral primary in September, on his way to a crushing 74 percent to 24 percent victory in the November general election, it was his full-throated opposition to ‘stop and frisk’” (Epp and Maynard-Moony, 2014, p. 14). Since then, it appears that Mayor De Blasio has made strides towards fulfilling that promise. In the year that De Blasio was sworn into office, stops were reduced by 76% compared to the year before. That astounding difference in numbers satisfied some, but more fervent opponents of the practice remain upset by two facts. First, at Mayor De Blasio’s choice for police commissioner: William J. Bratton. Commissioner Bratton served as police commissioner in New York City from 1994 to 1996 as well as Chief of New York City Transit Police from 1990 to 1994. Bratton was generally well received by the residents of New York City, however criticisms of his past include that he was essentially the father of the New York City stop and frisk program. Indeed, in his tenure as transit police chief he employed a zero tolerance policy based on the broken windows theory which included the practice of stop, question and

The American Civil Liberties Union - Illinois (“ACLUI”) (2015) conducted an in-depth study on the rate and effect of stop and frisk in Chicago. In the executive summary of their study, they wrote, “Chicago stops a shocking number of people. Last summer, there were more than 250,000 stops that did not lead to an arrest. Comparing stops to population, Chicagoans were stopped more than four times as often as New Yorkers at the height of New York City’s stop and frisk practice” (p.