Last Friday Governor Paterson signed legislation ending the NYPD's electronic database of innocent individuals who wind up on the receiving end of the controversial "stop and frisk" policy. The citywide database had swelled to include the names, addresses, and phone numbers of over 1 million people, most of whom are black or Hispanic and were never charged with a crime. By law, the NYPD is required to erase the electronic database, but that doesn't mean they can't track this information the old fashioned way! more ›

Last week, after much debate, Governor Paterson signed legislation that stopped the NYPD from accumulating and keeping the controversial stop-and-frisk database that has existed for nearly a decade. Mayor Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly adamantly argued for its effectiveness in crime prevention, with Bloomberg saying, "We didn't lose. The people who are going to lose are the victims...The proponents of the bill are in neighborhoods where crime is high, and we're trying desperately to protect the people who live in those communities—and they've just taken away one of the tools." more ›

Despite considerable pressure from Mayor Bloomberg and NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly, Governor Paterson will today sign legislation ending the NYPD's electronic database of innocent individuals who wind up on the receiving end of the controversial "stop and frisk" policy. Kelly met personally with Paterson twice this week to ask him to veto the bill, presenting the governor with summaries of 170 cases since 2007 in which he said the database proved pivotal in identifying and apprehending perps. According to the Times, those included 17 murders, 36 robberies and 8 sex crimes. more ›

Since everyone loves the online database that maps and gives rap sheets for rapists and pedophiles, the state of New York is taking it one step further. Now, you can sign up (at this website) to be contacted by text message, email, fax or phone when one of NY's high- or moderate-risk sex offenders moves within striking distance. (Then you can set special ring tones to go along with the notifications!) The sex-offender alerts are a new feature of the Emergency Management System, which also lets New Yorkers know about road closures, storms and—conveniently for the pedophiles—missing children, according to the Poughkeepsie Journal. The AP says there are more than 30,000 registered sex offenders in the state. more ›

Councilmembers are pushing the NYPD to abolish a database containing the names of New Yorkers who have been stopped, frisked, and released without charges. With the NYPD stopping and frisking a record number of people last year, Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) and Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Queens) wrote a letter urging Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to get rid of files on individuals who haven't been arrested or given summonses, arguing the current policy "raises significant privacy-right concerns and suggests that these innocent people are more likely to be targeted in future criminal investigations." more ›

Officials have confirmed that human error was to blame for a mis-dispatched ambulance whose would-be passenger died while waiting for its arrival Thursday. At 9:04 a.m. Mariela Lazaro called 911 and said her son’s nose was bleeding, but she was too upset to give her exact cross streets. While searching for the address in the database a 911 worker hit the wrong key and located Avenue C in Brooklyn, though Lazaro was actually calling from Avenue C in Manhattan’s Stuyvesant Town. An emergency crew rushed to the outer boroughs address, but quickly realized something was wrong. Less than twenty minutes after the original call another crew found its way to the correct home, but by then it was too late, the boy was dead. more ›

While the NYPD continues to rely on old-fashioned stop-and-frisks, the department is also fighting crime with a high-tech computer database that parses through police records, accident reports and other documents to quickly find the identities of suspects and victims. In a room that reportedly "resembles a Las Vegas sports book" or a set from Judge Dredd, detectives search through databases of tattoos, birthmarks and scars, missing teeth and gold teeth, limps and their severity, and skin blotches. more ›

More than 85% of people stopped and frisked by the NYPD are released without an arrest or summons. But just because the police let you go, doesn't mean they forget all about you! The NYPD maintains a database of more than 500,000 people stopped, questioned, frisked, and released each year. And Councilman Peter Vallone wants the department to hit delete. more ›