New York City’s decade-long stop-and-frisk policy has prompted an ongoing class action lawsuit: Floyd v. City of New York.
The trial is now entering its sixth week and plaintiffs are hoping to bring changes to the controversial police tactic, which allows officers to stop and question individuals they reasonably suspect of criminal activity, and in some cases, to search those individuals for weapons and drugs.
While city and police officials have defended the policy as effective in reducing crime in the city, many in the city’s black and Hispanic communities disagree.
So far in the trial, several plaintiffs have given personal accounts of being stopped by NYPD officers – which some say also included being unreasonably searched. They argue that the practice has violated their constitutional and civil rights.
The Center for Constitutional Rights filed the lawsuit and says stop-and-frisk violates the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures and the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections against racially-discriminatory policing.
Nicholas Peart is among those who testified in court. He says he has been stopped between 5 and 10 times.
Peart tells theGrio that one stop-and-frisk incident that left him feeling “victimized and criminalized.”
A personal stop-and-frisk account
Peart, 24, was born and raised in New York. After his mother passed away in 2010, he was left as the sole guardian for his three younger siblings, now 12, 13, and 20 years old.
One evening in May of 2011, Peart says he was headed to the corner store, down the street from his home, wearing blue shorts and a t-shirt. A few moments later, he says police officers parked their car nearby, jumped out, and approached him.
“I was texting while I was walking and by the time I looked up an officer was in front of me,” he tells theGrio. “He took my phone, told me to put my hands against the wall, and then patted me down.”
From there, Peart says the officers asked for his ID, took his keys and asked which building he lived in. He complied, telling them which key opened the front entrance to his building and which key corresponded with his unit’s front door.
“Not only did he enter my building, but he went to my door. I know that because my younger sister called me later and told me,” he says.
Meanwhile, Peart says he was held outside and handcuffed by the other officer, who then ordered Peart to get into the backseat of their police cruiser.
“It was the first time I had ever felt cold handcuffs on my wrists,” he says.
From there, Peart says the officer asked if he was carrying marijuana, and proceeded to take off his sneakers. While one officer searched Peart’s clothing, the other returned from the apartment. After discovering that Peart was clean, the officers let him go, he says.
TheGrio has sent a request to NYPD officials for further comment on the stop-and-frisk trial and Nicholas Peart’s encounter. A response has not yet been given.
City officials defend stop and frisk
Despite complaints about the practice from community members who say they share similar experiences to Peart’s, city officials insist stop-and-frisk is an effective way of reducing crime.
Police say that they do not target specific people of color and instead have heavy presence in minority communities because that is often where crimes are reported.
Former New York Police Chief Joseph Esposito defended the controversial tactic on the witness stand, saying, “if there’s reasonable suspicion, there’s no racial profiling.” Esposito testified that although the number of stops have increased by almost 700 percent over the years, the number of crimes has dropped by forty percent.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been among the most vocal city leaders defending the policy at a speech he delivered at a Brooklyn Church.
According to an article in The New York Times, he said: “it is clearly a life-saving practice. The NYPD is preventing guns from being carried on our streets. That is our real goal — preventing violence before it occurs, not responding to the victims after the fact.”
Aftermath of police stop leaves heavy emotions
Peart doesn’t believe the practice works and instead says it attacks innocent community members.
Following his incident with police, Peart says he tried to put the pieces together, but still couldn’t think of any reason why he was stopped – nor did the police officers tell him.
“I put a lot of this stuff together afterwards,” he says, adding that he later found out the first officer never entered his apartment. “But I still have no idea why the officer went to my door.”
Throughout the procedure, Peart – who says he has never been convicted of any crime – says he did what was asked of him by the officers.
“I didn’t show any resistance or hesitation because once you show that it is more of a hassle,” he says. “Then they start to consider it as disorderly conduct. I have every reason to be upset but I know I have to do what is best in the situation. But my level of frustration was unbearable. ”
“Overall, that experience was by the far the worst,” Peart says. “I was very angry, I was sad and I felt victimized and criminalized. It all really affected my family, too.”
Spreading the word to youth members
Peart says he is fearful that his two younger brothers will one day be stopped and frisked by police, just like he was.
“I hope that they never experience that but it’s inevitable,” he says. “I’m definitely fearful and that’s partly why I want to make a change.”
Peart has not only testified in the ongoing class action suit, he has also had several public speaking engagements discussing his beliefs about how the practice affects the community.
He is also an alumnus of Brotherhood/Sister Sol, a comprehensive youth development organization focused on providing support, education and other helpful resources to young people. He became a member of the group before he was stopped by police.
“It’s visceral, it’s horrific and it’s invasive,” Khary Lazarre-White, co-founder of the organization, says of the stop-and-frisks. “We provide both emotional support and advocacy on the issue.”
Under Bloomberg’s mayoral tenure, the number of stop-and-frisks has increased from around 97,000 stops in 2002 to over 684,000 in 2011 alone, according to NYPD – and more than 85 percent of police stops in 2011 were blacks and Hispanics.
Meanwhile, police say these stops have prevented further killings while advocates view the tactic as a method of racial profiling.
Hopes for reform in NYPD
Peart believes the practice is one that is very unsettling for minority communities.
“Stop and frisk has become this rite of passage for young men in the city,” he says. “As I got older, my mother prepared me mentally for this as something I will face sometime in my lifetime. No woman should have to prepare her son to be criminalized.”
Peart says he thinks it has many psychological effects on kids and teens that go overlooked by the city.
“These aren’t just minor inconveniences, they’re hostile situations,” he says.
He hopes the current case leads to a better relationship between the community and police.
“The image has to soften of the police, and people have to be more receptive of police presence,” he says.
“In some ways the NYPD needs a makeover and we have to change their tyranny,” he adds.” We shouldn’t feel threatened by police but it has been that way for so long that it has been accepted and that has to change.”
Follow Lilly Workneh @Lilly_Works