NYPD Harassment Documented on Tape
The policy in New York City known as the Stop and Frisk is one that should be easily observed as unconstitutional.
Imagine walking down any busy street near your home. You are on your way to a friends house, or you are walking down to a quick stop when suddenly you are singled out by police officers and told to stop and place your hands behind your back as the officers search you without any cause or warrant from pocket to pocket while being verbally harassed in the process. You have committed no crime, and for all intended purposes you are a faithful law abiding citizen.
This is the Stop and Frisk policy in New York City. The NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly and Mayor Bloomberg both think that the police have every right to be able to stop and ultimately take control over citizens actions all based on the way an individual looks.
The Nation Magazine released an amazing video which is linked HERE.
It attempts to expose the invasive, harassment that many minorities face while being profiled under the Stop and Frisk laws.
Police officers are pressured into warrantless searches and told that if they don't meet the necessary required stop and frisks they will face negative write ups, not get promotions, be placed in dangerous work environments and much more...the short 10 minute video speaks for itself and is very eye opening and shocking.
Jennifer Peltz and Colleen Long have an article over at the Huffington Post that also detail the S&F policy. They detail how in just 2011 alone over 700,000 Stop and Frisks where performed by the NYPD.
And the New York Civil Liberties Union had this to say about the Stop and Frisk tactics used by police:
An analysis by the NYCLU revealed that innocent New Yorkers have been subjected to police stops and street interrogations more than 4 million times since 2002, and that black and Latino communities continue to be the overwhelming target of these tactics. Nearly nine out of 10 stopped-and-frisked New Yorkers have been completely innocent, according to the NYPD’s own reports.
The Stop and Frisk program is clearly wrong, and quickly starting to turn minorities against the NYPD. Frequent harassment is being done by pressured officers, while citizens are quickly getting fed up with being searched and targeted a criminal for simply walking down the street. The Stop and Frisk Policy must end.