The move to end stop and frisk is heating up and I am still on the fence on the issue.
On one hand I completely acknowledge the fact that the police have abused and misused their power in the past and especially when dealing with people of color. They will no doubt continue doing this and use the program to harass young Hispanics and Blacks in hopes of getting them in jail on some small charge.
At the same time I have to acknowledge the fact that violent crimes in my community are committed mostly by young people of color. Recently a young Black man in Harlem was shot and killed while playing a basketball game. There is obviously a need for some type of action.
One problem I continue to have is that opponents of stop and frisk are not doing enough to end violent crimes committed. Someone gets shot and the neighborhood is outraged. One or two people make interesting sound bytes about how the violence needs to end. Meantime the "no snitch" policy in our community prevents people from at least getting the criminals off the streets after they commit a violent crime.
So I remain "conflicted". In general stop and frisk does not effect me. In most cases cops are looking for someone a lot younger.
On the bright side my position has shifted more towards the left.
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