CPR Responds to New Monitor Report on NYPD Discipline for Stop and Frisk Abuses

(NEW YORK, NY) - The Independent Federal Monitor of the New York City Police Department released a new report finding that the NYPD has failed to comply with court-ordered mandates to end its unconstitutional stop-and-frisk practices. In response to this report, Communities United for Police Reform spokesperson Hassen Bashir, Civil Rights Campaign Coordinator at VOCAL-NY released the following statement:

“The Monitor’s report affirms the reality suffered by countless New Yorkers who have been unconstitutionally stopped: that the NYPD repeatedly refuses to fire or meaningfully discipline cops who conduct abusive stops. This lack of police discipline only encourages more abusive stops that disproportionately impact Black, Latinx and other New Yorkers of color and perpetuates a culture of impunity that has only grown stronger under Mayor Adams. What this report does not do is get to the heart of that problem. Police must be fired when they violate the rights of New Yorkers with abusive stops and searches. We can’t allow the NYPD to continue to harass, humiliate and abuse New Yorkers without consequence.  

“It is no surprise that under Mayor Adams illegal stop-and-frisk abuses have risen to their highest rate in nearly a decade. Since taking office, the mayor and NYPD have systematically worked to dismantle NYPD accountability and oversight – from his failed attempt to block passage of the How Many Stops Act, which New Yorkers organized and won to get NYC Council to override his veto, to his funding cuts to the CCRB, and his failure to address the fact that his former NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban tossed out over 400 misconduct cases, including stop-and-frisk abuses, without even looking at them and then proceeded to weaken the NYPD discipline matrix just days before submitting his resignation. The Monitor’s report further validates what New Yorkers already know: the NYPD and the mayor put the protection of the police ahead of the protection of New Yorkers and until NYPD is held accountable and officers are fired, abuse and misconduct will continue. 

“For decades now, these abusive NYPD practices have meant that Black, Latinx and other communities of color are over-policed and violated on a daily basis and reinforces that officers can harass and harm New Yorkers with complete impunity. The Court still has an opportunity to order the NYPD to fire cops that conduct unconstitutional stops.”

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BACKGROUND

In 2013, a federal court appointed an independent monitor to oversee reforms ordered in Floyd v. City of New York, which challenged the NYPD’s racially discriminatory and unconstitutional stop-and-frisk and trespass enforcement practices. The Monitor’s latest report identifies a number of ways in which the NYPD is not in compliance with the court-ordered forms: 

• Eleven years into the federal monitorship, the NYPD is still not monitoring Fourteenth Amendment compliance, despite the federal court’s finding that its stop-and-frisk practices violate the Fourteenth Amendment rights of Black and Latino New Yorkers.
• NYPD officers failed to submit required reports in 31.4% of stops audited by the Monitor, demonstrating a failure to comply with a fundamental component of the court-ordered reforms.  
• Unconstitutional reported stops increased from 10.6% of stops in 2021 to 11.3% in 2022.
• Unconstitutional frisks increased over 50% between 2021 and 2022, from 15.8% to 23.9% 
• Unlawful searches increased nearly 50%, from 20.4% in 2021 to 29.9% in 2022.
• Specialized units, such as the Neighborhood Safety Teams (NST) which has drawn significant criticism for policing practices that harm Black and Latino New Yorkers, were found by the Monitor to engage in the majority of unlawful stops, frisks, and searches.
• The NYPD’s non-compliance continued into the first quarter of 2023, based on the existing data analyzed by the Monitor. 

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 reduces reliance on policing. CPR runs coalitions of over 200 local, statewide and national organizations, bringing 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 most unfairly targeted by the NYPD.