You can’t judge a book by its cover. However, in New York City, that was exactly the situation until three years ago. A Federal District Court ruled the city’s stop-and-frisk program unconstitutional and discriminatory in 2013. Plaintiffs in the case alleged the police were stopping people based on race. The data presented throughout the trial clearly showed a disproportionate number of African Americans and Hispanics – 83% of the stops – even though these two races only account for about half of the city’s population. Other damning statistics presented showed 88% of the people stopped were not found to be doing anything wrong.
The purpose of “Policing the Police” is to inform the community of the stop-and-frisk program’s reform as a result of Floyd v. City of New York. Having been published in The New York Times, this article is available to the general public not only in the greater New York area, but also around the world thanks to the Internet. I anticipated this article to be somewhat biased and very opinionated, as it was written by the New York Times Editorial Board, but in reality, it was completely fact driven.
“Policing the Police” outlines the changes that are upcoming as a result of the ruling for reform as well as the controversy that is brewing. There is clear guidance in what will be required of police officers moving forward with the stop-and-frisk program as well as providing the involved parties an explanation as to why the stop and possible frisk is occurring. A pilot program is also in the works for 1,000 officers to wear body cameras. This pilot is an experiment to see whether or not police officers and/or civilians involved behave differently when they are aware they are being filmed. The controversy revolves around who will have access to the footage from the body cameras and how it will be used in court proceedings; however, the court-appointed monitor as well as the court system are obligated to provide this footage to the public.
Overall, “Policing the Police” is meant to inform the general public of the stereotyping that may or may not have been intentional throughout the stop-and-frisk program’s early days. The data presented very clearly shows the disproportion in race. It also demonstrates the disproportion in identifying illegal activity. There is also a clear intent of the article to establish the progress the program is making moving forward. The article outlines the potential for controversy around the future state as well.
“Policing the Police” has stated the issues that were blatantly apparent in the past as well as what is being done to rectify these issues in the future. These were made clear, concise and easy to understand by the general public.

References
The Editorial Board (2016, June 23). Policing the Police on Stop-and-Frisk. The New York Times. Retrieved June 23, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/23/opinion/policing-the-police-on-stop-and-frisk.html?ref=topics&_r=0