Getting Frisky

Dsch67

STOP, QUESTION, FRISK

So far the NYPD has stopped and frisked roughly five million people under their stop, question, frisk policy.

In 2002, New Yorkers were stopped by the police 97,296 times.
80,176 were totally innocent (82 percent). 

In 2003, New Yorkers were stopped by the police 160,851 times.
140,442 were totally innocent (87 percent).

In 2004, New Yorkers were stopped by the police 313,523 times.
278,933 were totally innocent (89 percent).

In 2005, New Yorkers were stopped by the police 398,191 times.
352,348 were totally innocent (89 percent).

In 2006, New Yorkers were stopped by the police 506,491 times.
457,163 were totally innocent (90 percent).

In 2007, New Yorkers were stopped by the police 472,096 times.
410,936 were totally innocent (87 percent).

n 2008, New Yorkers were stopped by the police 540,302 times.
474,387 were totally innocent (88 percent).

In 2009, New Yorkers were stopped by the police 581,168 times.
510,742 were totally innocent (88 percent).

In 2010, New Yorkers were stopped by the police 601,285 times.
518,849 were totally innocent (86 percent).

In 2011, New Yorkers were stopped by the police 685,724 times.
605,328 were totally innocent (88 percent).

In 2012, New Yorkers were stopped by the police 533,042 times
473,300 were totally innocent (89 percent). 

Figures from NYCLU

I'll leave it to the NYCLU to argue whether or not the stops are racist given that 84% of the stops are of 'people of color'.
 
In Terry .v. Ohio the Supreme Court held that " the 4th amendment is not violated if when a police officer stops a suspect on the street and frisks him or her without probable cause to arrest, if the police officer has a reasonable suspicion that the person has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime and has a reasonable belief that the person "may be armed and presently dangerous." 

Given that 90% of the stops involve innocent people, the question then becomes are the officers involved acting on "reasonable suspicion"?

The data provided is collected by the NYPD.  Every time a police officer stops a person in NYC, the officer is supposed to fill out a form to record the details of the stop. Officers fill out the forms by hand, and then the forms are entered manually into a database. The numbers you see here come from those reports.  

The other question I would ask is... how many times do NYPD officers stop, question, and frisk people and don't bother to fill out the paperwork? Especially when nothing turns up in the search.

Another question you should ask is how the number of stops increased 500% when the city population only increased by 2%.  Are people acting more suspiciously?  Or are the cops relaxing their standard of "reasonable suspicion"?  

Does this seem "reasonable" to you?