CPR Statement: Mayor de Blasio’s First 100 Days and Stop-and-Frisk Reform

“We applaud Mayor de Blasio for taking a more productive approach and positive steps by agreeing to drop Bloomberg-era legal challenges to stop-and-frisk reforms and establishing an adequately funded inspector general's office. Stop-and-frisk abuses and discriminatory policing are engrained problems with long legacies of damage to the relationship between communities and police. While the excessive, record-high numbers of stops appear to be down, there is not yet a clear indication that the unjust, disproportionate impact of stop-and-frisk abuses on Black and Latino New Yorkers has come to an end.  There is significant work to be done to guarantee New Yorkers are not facing abusive and unconstitutional policing practices or disproportionately targeted by overly aggressive enforcement for minor infractions.

“Ensuring lasting reforms and repairing the relationship between communities and the police will require long-term commitment and substantive policy reforms.  Impacted communities must have a formalized and substantive role in the identification of reforms, as well as in the evaluation of compliance and progress.  We are eager to work with the administration and others to achieve these reforms, and look forward to beginning the stop-and-frisk reform process once the court acts on the agreement between the city and plaintiffs to drop the appeal.”

BACKGROUND

• While the de Blasio administration has reached an agreement with plaintiffs in the Floyd v. City of New York federal lawsuit to drop its appeal of the decision that ruled the city’s stop-and-frisk practices unconstitutional, the court has still not signed off on the agreement in order for the appeal to be dropped and for the reform process to begin. In addition, police unions' motions are still being considered by the court.
• Despite a 64% decline in the number of documented NYPD stop-and-frisks from 533,042 in 2012 to 194,000 in 2013, the number of CCRB stop-and-frisk complaints over the same period did not decrease proportionally – complaints declined only 9 percent despite the vastly larger apparent decline in stops and the fact that the after-effects of Hurricane Sandy disrupted CCRB operations for months. In addition, 2013 mirrored trends from prior years in terms of 85% of stops being of Black and Latino New Yorkers, as well as 88% of stops not resulting in summons or arrest.

About Communities United for Police Reform

Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) is an unprecedented campaign to end discriminatory policing practices in New York, and to build a lasting movement that promotes public safety and policing practices based on cooperation and respect– not discriminatory targeting and harassment.

CPR brings together a movement of community members, lawyers, researchers and activists to work for change. The partners in this campaign come from all 5 boroughs, from all walks of life and represent many of those unfairly targeted the most by the NYPD. CPR is fighting for reforms that will promote community safety while ensuring that the NYPD protects and serves all New Yorkers.

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