A federal court judge ordered an independent monitor to oversee reforms to the New York City Police Department's stop-and-frisk practice after ruling the polarizing practice violated the United States Constitution.
In a ruling released Monday morning, two months after hearing nine weeks of testimony in a class-action lawsuit challenging the policy, Manhattan federal court judge Shira Scheindlin found that " the city acted with deliberate indifference toward the NYPD's practice of making unconstitutional stops and conducting unconstitutional frisks."
"In addition," the judge wrote, "the city adopted a policy of indirect racial profiling by targeting racially defined groups for stops based on local crime suspect data. This has resulted in the disproportionate and discriminatory stopping of blacks and Hispanics in violation of the Equal Protection Clause."
The judge added that evidence showed that minorities are "indeed treated differently than white."
Between 2004 and 2012, the police made approximately 4.4 million stops under the program, which Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have credited with helping drive down crime. More than 80% of those stopped were either black or Hispanic and about 90% of those weren't charged with a crime.
The judge appointed Peter Zimroth, who worked as a city lawyer and prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office before working as a defense attorney. The monitor will answer to the judge who, the ruling said, "retains jurisdiction to issue orders necessary to remedy the constitutional violations."
"The Monitor will be specifically and narrowly focused on the City's compliance with reforming the NYPD's use of stop and frisk—although this will inevitably touch on issues of training, supervision, monitoring, and discipline," the judge wrote.
In a ruling released Monday morning, two months after hearing nine weeks of testimony in a class-action lawsuit challenging the policy, Manhattan federal court judge Shira Scheindlin found that " the city acted with deliberate indifference toward the NYPD's practice of making unconstitutional stops and conducting unconstitutional frisks."
"In addition," the judge wrote, "the city adopted a policy of indirect racial profiling by targeting racially defined groups for stops based on local crime suspect data. This has resulted in the disproportionate and discriminatory stopping of blacks and Hispanics in violation of the Equal Protection Clause."
The judge added that evidence showed that minorities are "indeed treated differently than white."
Between 2004 and 2012, the police made approximately 4.4 million stops under the program, which Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have credited with helping drive down crime. More than 80% of those stopped were either black or Hispanic and about 90% of those weren't charged with a crime.
The judge appointed Peter Zimroth, who worked as a city lawyer and prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office before working as a defense attorney. The monitor will answer to the judge who, the ruling said, "retains jurisdiction to issue orders necessary to remedy the constitutional violations."
"The Monitor will be specifically and narrowly focused on the City's compliance with reforming the NYPD's use of stop and frisk—although this will inevitably touch on issues of training, supervision, monitoring, and discipline," the judge wrote.