RANT: IN DEFENSE OF STOP AND FRISK

Let's look at the statistics supporting an END to New York's Stop and Frisk program: 

1)  According to the New York Civil Liberties Union, in 2006 the New York City Police Department stopped, questioned and/or frisked over 508,540 people.  This was an increase from 97, 296 four years prior in 2002.  Ten percent of the stops led to summonses or arrests.

2)  Of the 508,540 stopped, 55% were Black and 30% were Latino.  Eleven percent of those stopped were white.

3)  According to the NYCLU study Brownsville's 73rd Precinct and the 28th Precinct in Harlem had a 30-36 percent chance of being stopped and questioned by the police in 2006.

4)  In 2006, 21.5 Blacks were stopped for each arrest of a Black person compared to 18.2 whites stopped for each white arrest.

5)  Cops found guns, drugs and stolen property on whites about twice as often as they did on Black suspects.  Whites were also stopped on suspicion of possessing a weapon at a rate lower than their weapon possession arrest rate.  Blacks were stopped on suspicion of possessing a weapon at a rate greater than their weapon possession arrest rate.  These findings indicate that cops were more unjustified in stopping Black people on suspicion of having weapons.

According to epic.org in February  2010 the NYPD released data on stop and frisks for 2009.  In 2009, 575,304 stop, question and frisk reports were made, which were an increase of 8% from 2008.  Fifty-seven percent of the stops resulted in pat downs or frisks and 9 percent in searches.  Six percent of the stops resulted in arrests.

With statistics like that and knowing, if not on paper but in your heart that there are a lot of racist police officers who are looking to arrest a Black or Latino it is no wonder why there is distrust in the Black community when it comes to the police department.

Recently in my Black Studies class on Civil  Rights a representative spoke regarding joining a group trying to abolish the stop and search program in New York, and they presented similar details to what I just gave.  Trust me there are more stats to support ending this practice and originally I was one of the supporters for it. 

So what changed?

A recent New York Times report helped change my mind.  An interesting study http://projects.nytimes.com/crime/homicides/map  found that there were 4161 homicides in New york City between 2003-2011.  Of those 4161 killings 329 occurred in 2010 and 209 so far this year.

The murder of an elderly man in Bed-Stuy helped to change my mind.  Last month a 79 year old man named Andy Burke was shot to death outside a barber shop at 5:30 in the afternoon.  The shooting was caught on Surveillance video and showed two men chasing after another guy.  Mr. Burke was caught in the crossfire and took a bullet to the neck.

While researching that story the police just arrested suspects in the shooting death of Zurana Horton.  As Ms. Horton was the mother of 13 who was gunned down last week.  She was the unintended target of rival gangs and died after being shot in the chest.  An 11-year-old girl was injured.   Zurana Horton, 34, was picking up a child from P.S. 298 in Brownsville, at

Pitkin Avenue

and

Watkins Street. 

The Labor Day shootings where 67 people were shot, including two police officers and a 56 year old bystander who died from her wounds also made me change my mind.

None of the suspects in any of the crimes were reported to be white.

I am a Black male and though I have never been stopped by the police I know full well of the consequence of being a Black male in this city.  However, I am becoming of a particular age where I am painfully aware of what my own people, particularly the young, can do.  Would "stop and frisk" have saved any of the people who were killed or were even just shot?  Granted with the amount of times the NYPD gets it wrong it is doubtful, but you have to wonder if stop and frisk could make a difference.  Yes, there is the argument for civil rights of young Black and Latinos, mostly male, but what about the rights of the potential victims?  Recent history has shown police error but it also has shown senseless deaths.

There is a little selfishness with this.  As a 46 year old I am less likely to be stopped by the cops than let's say, a 20 year old.  Sadly, according to the NY Times homicide study, most of the homicides from 2003 to 2011 were committed by Black males between 18-24 years of age.  Most of the people in the cases I mentioned were around that age bracket.

The old school argument use to be to protect our youth  from the cops.  And while history shows a disproportionate amount of violence against Blacks and Latinos by the police, who is the greater enemy?  Would more people benefit from the police being more aggressive rather than having rallies to promote non-violence from a group that obviously could care less about it?