The number of stop and frisks reported by the NYPD jumped last year, fueling fears that the unconstitutional tactic is making a comeback on city streets.
Data released by the department on Friday shows that officers recorded 13,459 stops in 2019, a 22 percent uptick from the previous year, when the NYPD reported 11,008 stop and frisks. It's the first annual increase since 2013, when a federal judge ruled the practice was racially discriminatory and appointed a monitor to oversee reforms.
Since then, the number of reported stop and frisks have dropped precipitously from their high of 685,000 in 2011. But criminal justice advocates say that the tactic never fully disappeared.
“This data confirms what we hear from our clients on a daily basis — despite court rulings that the City’s practices were unlawful, aggressive stop-and-frisk has made a comeback in New York City,” said Corey Stoughton, attorney-in-charge of special litigation at The Legal Aid Society.
“This is an alarming trend at the beginning of Commissioner Dermot Shea’s tenure but not surprising as he is a long-time champion of discredited broken windows policing," Stoughton added. "What it really represents is a broken promise to New Yorkers who stood up years ago to end ineffective, unfair and unconstitutional police practices.”
Roughly 65 percent of 2019's reported stops resulted in neither an arrest nor a summons. An estimated 90 percent of stops targeted New Yorkers of color, continuing the enforcement disparities that have persisted well into Mayor Bill de Blasio's tenure, even as he's taken credit for ending stop and frisk.
"We see it with fare evasion, with marijuana, with so many other categories of arrest," Anthony Posada, supervising attorney of the Community Justice Unit at the Legal Aid Society, told Gothamist. "It sends a really clear message that what we have is racialized policing and an ongoing dehumanization campaign against communities of color."
Advocates have long believed that the NYPD is undercounting the true number of stop and frisks it makes each year. In its 2019 status report, the federal monitor overseeing the department's reforms found that officers still don't record and report their stops as required, and that supervisors aren't reviewing enough of the reported stops to make sure they are legal.
Under the 2018 Right to Know Act, officers that are physically frisking a person without reasonable suspicions are required to identify themselves, explain why they are making the stop, and offer the person stopped a business card with their name and shield number. But officers frequently flout that law, according to Posada.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the NYPD pointed to past recording errors as justification for last year's apparent spike in stop and frisks.
"It’s unlikely to be a true increase in stops but rather more accurate and complete reporting," said Detective Annette Shelton. "The Department has enhanced its auditing and compliance metrics as well as developed training to address stops and proper reporting."
A spokesperson for Mayor Bill de Blasio did not immediately return a request for comment.
