Vol. 74/No. 3      January 25, 2010

In October 2007, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) filed a freedom of information request for police department figures on cop shootings over the previous 10 years. The NYPD responded with reports that excluded racial data.

After the NYCLU sued for this information, the NYPD agreed to turn over the figures but refused to disclose the race in incidents where officers shot but missed their target.

A New York State Supreme Court judge ruled December 15 that the NYPD had no legal basis to deny any aspect of the request and must give up all the racial data on those the cops shot at during the 10-year period.

“The records we’ve obtained thus far paint a troubling, but incomplete, picture,” Donna Lieberman, NYCLU executive director, stated.

Other figures compiled by the NYCLU show an increasing use of arbitrary, unconstitutional searches by the NYPD.

The number of stops on the street of people in New York City has steadily increased from 97,000 in 2002, to 531,000 in 2008. In about 90 percent of cases, cops find no reason to arrest those they stop.

On average, just over half of those stopped on the street in the city over the last half decade were Black, although the Black population is about 17 percent. Blacks in New York are statistically about eight times more likely to be stopped than whites. About 30 percent of those stopped were Latinos, who comprise a similar portion of the city’s population.

Among most common documented reasons for the stops were “area has a high crime incidence,” “furtive movements,” and “change direction at sight of officer.”  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home