14 Muslim leaders have fired off a sternly-worded letter to Mayor Bloomberg announcing their intention to boycott his annual interfaith breakfast on Friday, which brings together religious and political leaders from all over the spectrum for a friendly coffee klatsch. At issue is a damning series of articles in the Associated Press detailing the NYPD's targeting of Muslim communities for surveillance. Commissioner Ray Kelly has firmly denied this, telling the City Council, "We don't do it ethnically, we do it geographically. We don't racially profile, we follow leads wherever those leads take us." The NYCLU, however, calls it a "rogue domestic surveillance operation," and in November hundreds of Muslims demonstrated outside police headquarters. more ›

It's continuing to be a banner year for street shakedowns as the NYPD has stopped 514,000 people through September 2011, 13% higher than 2010. According to the NYCLU, 4 million people have been stopped since the program began in 2004. Did the lucky 4 millionth customer win a wheelbarrow full of NYPD swag? Were they allowed to keep their dignity and take a photo with NYPD's stop-and-frisk mascot, Patty, The Firm Hand Of Justice? more ›

World's Richest Historian Newt Gingrich visited a South Carolina radio station yesterday and began taking shots at the GOP's consistently milquetoast champion Mitt Romney, saying, “it’s wrong to go around and adopt radically different positions based on your need of any one electorate, because then people have to ask themselves, what will you tell me next time?” Gingrich should take his own advice, because what he told a deeply conservative crowd last night regarding illegal immigration sounded a lot different than his flirtation with "mercy" in front of a bunch of DC thinktank suits last week. more ›

The Internal Affairs Bureau will discipline three officers for their role in the arrest of a City Councilmember and another city official as they were leaving the West Indian Day Parade in September. Video that surfaced after the incident showed Councilmember Jumaane Williams and Public Advocate aide Kirsten John Foy arrested after they had identified themselves, and Foy was violently thrown to the ground and handcuffed. more ›

As if the NYPD's habit of stopping and frisking anyone and everyone officers find suspicious weren't controversial already, new police data makes it look like the police department is on track to break last year's record-breaking stop and frisk stats. In 2010, the NYPD made 601,055 street stops (up 4.3 percent from 2009) and in the first six months of this year alone the police used the tactic 362,150 times. Sadder, in the Bronx, at least, 91 percent of those stopped and frisked between April and June were male and 92 percent were black or Hispanic. Profiling much? more ›

It appears we spoke too soon when we declared the streets of New York City safe at last. The man who was allegedly caught stealing an iPhone 4 thanks to a nifty app called iGotYa, is denying that the photo is of him, and his family has produced photos to prove it. "This is embarassing," Brian Chattoo's mother tells the Daily News, which provides a photo of Chattoo. "That's not my son." Might as well go whole-hog with this Orwellian technology and hook iGotYa up with the NYPD's facial recognition technology. more ›

Police commissioner Ray Kelly is tasked with the important job of protecting us from Islam terrorism, and in order to do this effectively, he may have to spy on Muslims. To make a safety omelet, you have to crack a few Korans! Unfortunately, the city council didn't take too kindly to Kelly's counterterrorism tactics of trailing terror-denouncing imams or violating the rights of innocent people, and grilled him at a hearing on Thursday. Kelly can take care of himself, but the New York Post's editorial board is here to help: "Kelly refused to apologize for a decade of brilliant police work. Good for him." Damn straight. Love is never having to say "I'm sorry (I pulled you over because of the color of your skin)." more ›

Despite attempts to have it thrown out, the Center for Constitutional Rights' lawsuit accusing the NYPD of "stop and frisk" racial profiling will proceed. Yesterday Judge Shira A. Scheindlin ruled that there was enough evidence, stating, "This case presents an issue of great public concern... the disproportionate number of African-Americans and Latinos who become entangled in our criminal justice system, as compared to Caucasians." more ›

Not getting a ride to Brooklyn is annoying, being dragged hurts, and racial profiling is worse. But what really stings is being refused a life-saving ride to the hospital while you're gushing blood on the street. A 20-year-old Harlem man who was shot in his left arm in a housing project before running two blocks down 8th Ave to 150th street couldn't catch a cab to safety. A witness named "Strawberry" told the Post, "He tried to get a cab to take him to the hospital, but nobody was stopping for him. Four cabs passed him away." Note to the Post's editors: either her last name is "Shortcake," or someone may have counted on you not listening to a crucial line in a seminal N.W.A. track. more ›

If you're one of the NYPD's lucky stop-and-frisk customers this year (183,326 and counting!) the police is giving you a slightly less opaque reason as to why they roughed you up. New forms that officers fill out following a stop include a "Reason for Force Used" field that gives officers the choice of checking a box that describes the situation leading up to the rough stop. The choices are: "suspect reaching for suspected weapon" (like this innocent teenager), "suspect flight," "defense of self," "defense of other," and "overcome resistance." If those don't quite paint a nuanced picture of what happened, there's always the classic "other" box that allows the officer to jot down why you were worth their time. Presumably this is to save room on the form so they don't have to print both "brown" and "black." more ›

Now that the suspect in Friday night's livery cab driver shooting has been identified as Hispanic (at least from a black and white surveillance video), the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers is telling drivers to racially profile their passengers. Union head Fernando Mateo said, "I don't care about racial profiling. You know, sometimes it is good we are racially profiled, because the God's honest truth is that 99 percent of the people that are robbing, stealing, killing these drivers are blacks and Hispanics." But it's OK for him to say that because he's Hispanic! more ›

This weekend we talked to Jerrell Horton about his harrowing cab experience that occurred on Saturday night, when he was hopping into a cab in Manhattan—and like many before him—was met with a driver who did not like his destination of Brooklyn. Except unlike many before him, he was then dragged down the street by the driver. He sent the above photos and told us, "It was insane. He stopped, and when I told him my destination he took off while I was dragging from the door... He knew he was dragging me. I was injured." more ›

Police say the phoned-in hijacking threat that grounded American Airlines Flight 24, which was headed to JFK Airport, at San Francisco International Airport was "non-credible." The SF Chronicle says the call was made to an Almeda hotel clerk. The passengers on the flight were taken off the plane, questioned by authorities, had their belongings re-screened, and were allowed to book other flights. But one passenger wondered if two fellow travelers were racially profiled. more ›

In May there was some speculation about SoHo's Apple Store discriminating against Chinese people, with claims coming out that racial profiling was at work. Now word is that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating the claims that those of Asian descent are refused iPads due to smuggling fears. more ›

Remember those students from Queens who were returning from a college visit when they were pulled over, searched, and cuffed by New Jersey state police officers—sparking allegations of racial profiling and excessive force? Cops denied that the students' skin color had anything to do with the Jersey Turnpike traffic stop, insisting that they only pulled over the van because they received a 911 call warning them that van passengers were carrying guns. Well, it turns out one of the students in the van made that 911 call, according to officials. more ›

Sgt. Reginald McReynolds, a 19 year veteran of the NYPD, was returning to his girlfriend's Bronx apartment with their Chinese food one night at the end of October when he was stopped by a rookie cop and his partner. Officers Kyle Bach and Joseph Azevedo, who are white, were responding to a domestic dispute call in the building. The perp was described as in his late 20s and weighing about 150 pounds; McReynolds is a 42-year-old black man weighing in at 275 pounds. Nevertheless, McReynolds says Bach "came right up in my face and said, 'What fucking apartment are you going to?'" It's no surprise that the ensuing exchange wasn't all that courteous, professional, or respectful. more ›

In the wake of a Nigerian man's failed attempt to blow up an airplane as it landed in Detroit on Christmas, Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind is calling on authorities to instate a policy of ethnic profiling to stop would-be terrorists. According to CBS, the Borough Park Democrat — who was last spotted protesting against the inclusion of gays, gypsies, and the disabled at a Holocaust memorial — argues that politicians must "[l]et law enforcement do what it feels is necessary without tying their hands." more ›

One night last month, 11 black and Hispanic high school students were heading home to Jamaica, Queens after a visit to Howard University when they got had in an all-too-familiar encounter with New Jersey's finest. After the students had dinner at the rest stop near Exit 7A of the New Jersey Turnpike, someone called 911 to say that at least one youth was brandishing a gun. (Police say the caller warned of three youths with guns; the students and their three supervisors say troopers cited a report of a black male in a gray sweatshirt carrying a gun.) Regardless, the police reaction left the group outraged, the Times's Peter Applebome reports. more ›

In late September, two black detectives and one Pakistani detective were going door-to-door in Gravesend, Brooklyn, canvassing residents to investigate a possible hate crime. They were dressed in suits, not uniforms, and not one of them is white, so naturally someone assumed they must be pretending to be police officers. The Shomrim Jewish Community patrol raced to the scene, and 911 was called. When the detectives heard the call over the radio they identified themselves to the dispatcher, but a fight almost broke out when local cops arrived. more ›

With the federal authorities continuing their investigation of an alleged terror plot with roots in Denver and Queens, some New York City Muslims have accused the feds and NYPD of racial profiling. Queens Islamic activist Monami Maulik said over the weekend, "An entire community and people and religion should not be profiled and characterized as terrorists because of certain investigations." more ›

Because the brouhaha over Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s arrest will never end, it's time for former Secretary of State Colin Powell to weigh in. While on Larry King Live last night, Powell, who said Gates is a longtime friend, said, "When you're faced with an officer trying to do his job and get to the bottom of something, this is not the time to get in an argument with him...I was taught that as a child. You don't argue with a police officer." He did suggest Gates was tired from his flight from China through NY and also wondered about the Cambridge police, "Once they felt they had to bring Dr. Gates out of the house and to handcuff him, I would have thought at that point some adult supervision would have stepped in and said, OK, look, it is his house. Come on. Let's not -- let's not take this any further. Take the handcuffs off. Goodnight, Dr. Gates." [Here's a transcript and video is after the jump.] Powell also discussed being racially profiled a few years ago—"You just suck it up"—and endorsed Mayor Bloomberg—"I think Mike Bloomberg should be given a third term. And yes, I would say, reelect Mike Bloomberg." more ›

A few more details on the resignation of Lee Landor from her position as deputy press secretary to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. The Post reports that the 24-year-old, whose Facebook postings about the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. included calling Gates a racist, President Obama "O-dumb-a," and more, "resigned under pressure... from the $45,758-a-year job Monday after being told 'jump or be pushed,' according to a source." more ›

The Cambridge, Massachusetts police released the 911 call that prompted the arrest of Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.. It turns out the caller Lucia Whalen said, "I don't know if they live there or they just had a hard time with their key." You can listen to the tape here, and Whalen was apparently upset she was being depicted as a racist in the media; her attorney said, "She has worked in Cambridge for more than 15 years, about 100 yards from where Mr. Gates resides, and was aware of several recent break-ins in the area." The Boston Globe reports that in the recordings, "The dispatcher asked officers to 'respond to a possible B and E in progress,' saying the caller had reported they 'barged' into the house, but also noting, 'They have suitcases.'" Gates was eventually arrested for disorderly conduct, upset that the police arrived. Cambridge Chief of Police Robert Haas said, "July 16 is a painful moment for all of us. We need to move on. If we focus back on July 16, we are not going to make any progress." The incident became more of a flashpoint when President Obama waded into the discussion—now he has invited Gates and the police officer who arrested Gates, Sergeant James Crowley, for a beer at the White House this week. more ›

Last night, President Obama took to primetime to discuss health care reform—or as the Washington Post puts it, he "confronted increasing doubts about the impact of widespread changes to the health-care system, seeking to assure middle-class Americans on Wednesday that the landmark legislation he envisions would improve their quality of life and is essential to curing the nation's economic ills." However, that part of his remarks seemed "lackluster" and "cautious and choreographed" compared his sharper, more passionate thoughts on the arrest of his friend, Harvard academic Henry Louis Gates Jr.. more ›

The NY Post reports today that the city will pay $25,000 to a Brooklyn man as part of a settlement deal in a case involving the NYPD. Jangir Sultan, a 32-year-old Brooklyn native of South Asian heritage, had sued the police for racial profiling after they stopped and searched him 21 times at different subway stations around the city. NYPD spokesman Paul Browne maintains the searches are conducted randomly, settlement nonwithstanding: "We did not stop him based upon his concerns...The fact that he was stopped for other reasons is untrue." Of course, the chances of being stopped 21 times for a truly random search are something astronomical, but sometimes it's easier to shell out a few grand than get bogged down in dirty details. Plus, it seems the police have their hands full with a different subway case anyway. more ›

Despite the high percentages of minorities frisked among the hundreds of thousands stopped and questioned by the NYPD, the Daily News reports that very few are getting hit with any charges with ones as serious as criminal possession of a weapon accounting for just a fraction of those arrested. Their latest analysis comes from data released by the Center for Constitution Rights as part of their lawsuit accusing the NYPD of racial profiling. The News talks to one college student of mixed race who was stopped because the officer said he "looked like he had a gun on him" and his charges of disorderly conduct stemming from what the cop deemed "furtive actions" and "inappropriate attire" were eventually dropped when the officer failed to show up to a court date. NYPD spokeman Paul Browne defended the stop to arrest ratio saying, "Twenty individuals may be stopped and briefly questioned because they fit the general description. But only one [and maybe none] is eventually arrested." more ›

The Center for Constitution Rights analyzed NYPD data between 2005 and the first half of 2008 and found, "approximately 80 percent of total stops made were of Blacks and Latinos, who comprise 25 percent and 28 percent of New York City’s total population, respectively. During this same time period, only approximately 10 percent of stops were of Whites, who comprise 44 percent of the city’s population." more ›

Yesterday, the Daily News reported that one police officer was stripped of his badge and gun "for ordering the NYPD's highest-ranking uniformed black officer out of his auto while the three-star chief was off-duty and parked in Queens." Naturally, the incident has sparked outrage from both sides. more ›