Stop and Frisk Ruled Unconstitutional

New York has a very controversial law. It's called Stop and Frisk, and it means that NYPD officers can stop any citizen, anytime, for any reason, and frisk them. For the past few months, civil rights activists, and any American who learns of this and has a conscience have been talking about the racial profiling that this law condones. Black and hispanic New Yorkers are being stopped and searched way more than whites are, and the great thing about this story, is that it is impossible to argue. Every single stop and frisk is documented, which means we now have a group of beautiful facts, numbers that can't be denied, telling us the truth. That truth? Wait for it.......turns out white people have way more drugs and guns on their person than minorities do. Who knew!?

The data for these searches is compiled by the New York Public Advocate's Office, and their newly released findings are certainly eye-widening. In their analysis of 2012 statistics, the advocate office found that black citizens searched were HALF as likely to be in possession of a handgun or illegal substance as white people were. Officer Pedro Serrano, an 8 year police force veteran, testified in court that the Deputy Inspector Christopher McCormick had told him exactly who to focus all of his stop and frisk attention on. “I don’t have any trouble telling you this: male blacks 14 to 20, 21,”. That conversation was recorded. 

The problem here is that minorities are stopped and searched way more than white people are, despite the numbers showing that technically, white people are the much bigger threat in terms of illegal drugs and weapons. Also, the law states that the police have to be aware of a crime, or think that a crime is about to happen in order to stop someone, but they haven't been following that rule. Darius Charney, the attorney representing the plaintiffs in court this morning said that the NYPD "laid siege to black and Latino communities" through "arbitrary, unnecessary and unconstitutional harassment". The judge agreed, and has ruled this law unconstitutional, appointing an independent moderator to oversee the reform.

In my opinion, not only does this entire ordeal say something quite somber about who Americans perceive as criminals, but it also provides me with more evidence against our police forces' quota system. Here in Pennsylvania, the end of the month is a scary time to drive, because cops need to get the correct amount of arrests to fill their quota before the new month begins. Chicago was the same way. Crime should be stopped as you learn of it, not by how many crimes you want there to be, or think there should be. This is a disgusting way to serve your citizens, you know, the ones you stop and search because of their brown-ness, but ironically pay your salaries with their tax money? Yeah, those people.