...The NYPD’s stop-and-frisk practices raise serious concerns over racial profiling, illegal stops, and privacy rights.The Department’s own reports on its stop-and-frisk activity confirm what many people in communities of color across the city have long known: The police are stopping hundreds of thousands of laws abiding New Yorkers every year, and the vast majority are black and Latino. Discriminatory and abusive policing in New York City remains a serious problem after decades of out-of-control policies and practices that are unaccountable to residents of the city. In 1994, Mayor Rudy Giuliani and NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton adopted policing strategies based on the unproven and controversial broken windows theory, an ideologically-driven...
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...The stop and frisk policy was adopted from English law in a number of American courts. In accordance with English common law, without statutory provisions, a police officer has the power to stop, question, and frisk suspects given reasonable circumstances. Based on a standard which holds less than probable cause, this power is granted upon the standard of reasonable suspicion. It is a question of circumstances of each individual case that determines whether reasonable detention and investigation is validated.[7] Legislation pertaining to constitutional requirements of stop and frisk practices were made into an area of concern by the Supreme Court when they encountered the case of Terry v. Ohio. While frisks were arguably illegal, before this point a police officer could only search someone either after arresting them or obtaining a search warrant. In the cases of Terry v. Ohio, Sibron v. New York, and Peters v. New York, the Supreme Court granted limited approval in 1968 to frisks conducted by officers lacking probable cause for an arrest in order to search for weapons if the officer believes the subject to be dangerous. The Court's decision made suspicion of danger to an officer grounds for a "reasonable search".[8] Stop-and-frisk is not necessarily a new invention. In the early 1980s if a police officer had reasonable suspicion of a possible crime, he had the authority to stop someone and ask questions. If, based on the subject’s answers, the suspicion level did not escalate...
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...An issue I deem that is a flaw in the criminal justice system is using racial profiling for the stop-and-frisk policy. Racial profiling is basically the use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of committing a crime or an offense. The stop-and-frisk policy is when a police officer stops someone he/she deems suspicious and frisking the person for something. One case that relates to this flaw in the criminal justice system would be the Floyd v. City of New York. The date that this case was filed was on January 31, 2008 by David Floyd, David Ourlicht, Lalit Clarkson and Deon Dennis. This case challenged the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) practices of racial profiling and seeing whether or not the stop and frisk policy...
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...31st, 1963, in Cleveland, Ohio, when police officer Martin McFadden observed three men engaging in suspicious behavior. At first, two men, John W. Terry and Richard Chilton, were taking turns pacing up and down Euclid Avenue, stopping to peer into a storefront, then congregating at the street corner. Later, a third party (Katz), met the two at the corner then left abruptly after brief conversation. Officer McFadden then confronted the three men, searched their outer garments under the suspicion of criminal intent, and found a pistol on Terry and another on Chilton. Terry’s defense argued the gun found on Terry was inadmissible in court as evidence, stating that his 4th Amendment right to protection from unreasonable search and seizures was violated. The court denied the defendants' motion on the ground that Officer McFadden, on the basis of his experience, "had reasonable cause to believe . . . that the defendants were conducting themselves suspiciously, and some interrogation should be made of their action." Purely for his own protection, the court held, the officer had the right to pat down the outer clothing of these men, who he had reasonable cause to believe might be armed. The Supreme Court of Ohio dismissed their appeal on the ground that no “substantial constitutional question” was involved (Kemp, David. (2012). Terry v. Ohio 392 U.S. 1 (1968). U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Douglas strongly disagreed with permitting a stop and search without probable cause, stating...
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...Stop and Frisk The Stop and Frisk program in New York City is a exercise of the New York City Police Department , where police officers would stop and question thousands of walkers annually, and frisk them for weapons and other contraband. The rules for this such actions are found in “New York State Criminal Procedure Law section 140.50”, and are founded on the result of the United States Supreme Court in the case of Terry v. Ohio. Thousands people are stopped each year mostly are Blacks or Latino. Some judges have found that these stops are not based on reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. Each day in New York City, and in many other cities in the country, police officers will stop ask questions, and every now and then frisk people...
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...Abstract The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution protects one’s rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. It also states that no warrants shall be issued without probable cause. Probable cause can be defined as a person of reasonable caution who believes that a crime has been committed and the person accused has committed that crime. Modern law has afforded police officers an incentive to respect this amendment, known as the “stop and frisk” act. The Stop and Frisk law allows police officers to stop someone and do a quick search of their outer clothing for weapons: if the officer has a reasonable suspicion that a crime has or is about to take place and the person stopped is armed or dangerous. The reasonable suspicion must be based with specific expressed facts and not on just an officer’s intuition or guess. The Stop and Frisk law balances crime control, protects an individual’s right, and prevents from unreasonable searches. This law is further implemented and proven in the Supreme Court case Terry v. Ohio where it was ruled that the search performed was in fact reasonable under the constitution and the fourth amendment. Introduction The Fourth Amendment states, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place...
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...History of African Americans and the Police The relationship between police officers and the African American communities can be understood by first understanding the policing history in the United States. Blacks were reminded of their inferior social standing through public spaces during segregation (Berrey and Foley, 2006, p. 81). African Americans were clearly suppressed by the justice system. It protected White male landowners. Experiences of African Americans led to their resistance that challenged the Jim Crow perspective of separate being equal (Berrey and Foley, 2006, p. 82). Separate but equal was merely a theory. However, in practice, the government treated Black individuals in the country as second class citizens in various settings,...
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...That Became Safe Over the last ten years the United States has experienced a dramatic decrease in crime since the early 1990’s. New York, has maintained their remarkable drop in crime over the last twenty years in comparison. So it is only logical that criminologist would want to study this phenomenon to get to the root of its success. In “ The City That Became Safe” Zimring decides to go beyond New York’s surface success and find the causes in these decreases. Through his analysis of the New York’s constant decline in Zimring says: “We now know that life-threatening crime is not an incurable urban disease in the United States.” He takes the stance that improved policing strategies and systems explain New York’s constant decreasing in various area’s of crime. Dr. Zimring will further assert his stance through finding the causes of the decline and explain what else can be learned though criminological theories and crime control policy. As previously According to Zimring, New York’s decrease in serious crime is unprecedented among America’s biggest cities. In the 1990s the entire country experienced the largest documented crime decline of the twentieth century, in which the typical big city experienced approximately 35 to 40% reductions in felonies. But in most urban areas the downward trend ended around the year 2000. In contrast, Zimring notes that New York’s decline has so far lasted twice as long, and the average felony rate drop has been twice as large. The city’s felony rates...
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...When I think of violators of Human Rights, one entity comes to mind and that entity is the New York Police Department. For far too long, the New York Police Department has continuously been accused of using excessive and abusive force to achieve arrests. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter to the officers whether these people are guilty or not. In the United States Constitution, it reads, “innocent until proven guilty” but according to the New York Police Department these people are “guilty until proven innocent.” This happens in the smallest and largest of situations, from a simple traffic stop to the arrest of a so called “lifelong” criminal. In this paper, through specific examples of the New York Police Department’s infringement upon the public’s basic human rights, I will prove not only is the New York Police Department in violation of United States law, but international law as well; specifically the Convention against Torture. I will also explain why it is vital to the safety of all New Yorker’s that these power hungry parasites be stopped! From a very young age we all are brought up with the façade that all police officers, not just the NYPD, are there to “serve” and “protect” the public. For example, parents teach their children that when they are in trouble or they are scared, to try and find a police officer to help them. On television when children do this the police officers seem to be cordial and willing to help. In the real world, this is not the case. To the...
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...Of: Kent County / Kent County Sheriff and Police Officers Association of Michigan Arbitration Hearing March 15, 2011 Original File Kent County arb hrg. 3-15-2011.prn Min-U-Script® with Word Index Arbitration Hearing March 15, 2011 Kent County / Kent County Sheriff and Police Officers Association of Michigan Page 1 Page 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS IN THE MATTER OF THE ARBITRATION BETWEEN Page KENT COUNTY and KENT COUNTY SHERIFF, MERC Case No. A-10-1-0068 POAM Gr. #10-462 (Grievant: Jason Evans/ Termination) Employer, Opening statement by Mr. Peterson WITNESSES: 7 EMPLOYER GREG PAROLINI Direct examination by Mr. Peterson Cross-examination by Ms. Champine and POLICE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION OF MICHIGAN, BRUCE PARTRIDGE Direct examination by Mr. Peterson Cross-examination by Ms. Champine Redirect examination by Mr. Peterson Recross-examination by Ms. Champine Union. _____________________________/ ARBITRATION HEARING APPEARANCES: 68 Opening statement by Ms. Champine Grand Rapids, Michigan - Tuesday, March 15, 2011 For the Union: 45 55 63 65 Employer rests BEFORE DAVID S. TANZMAN, ARBITRATOR For the Employer: 11 37 68 WITNESSES: UNION JASON EVANS PETER H. PETERSON (P41964) Miller Johnson 250 Monroe Avenue, N.W., Suite 800 Grand Rapids, Michigan 49501-0306 Telephone: (616) 831-1700 MARTHA M. CHAMPINE (P46909) Police Officers Association of Michigan 27056 Joy...
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