The Problem

“Stop and frisk” and other discriminatory policing practices have spiraled out of control. In 1994, Mayor Giuliani and the NYPD adopted controversial “broken windows” policing strategies, which promote aggressive enforcement of minor offenses on the theory that this will prevent serious crime. Under Mayor Bloomberg, the NYPD has dramatically expanded this flawed strategy. Each year, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers are wrongfully stopped, frisked, or searched. Many wrongfully receive a summons, or are even arrested. Some are even sexually or physically assaulted by NYPD officers. They are being targeted by an increasingly confrontational and arrogant police force, often humiliated in their own homes, schools and neighborhoods.