Q&A
Discussion on persistent racial disparities in NYPD stop and frisk practices
1:32:51
·
4 min
Council Member Salaam presses the NYPD on persistent racial disparities in stop and frisk practices, citing statistics showing that 90% of people stopped last year were people of color. Deputy Commissioner Gerber responds by referencing a federal monitor's report on racial disparities.
- The monitor's report showed positive developments in post-stop disparities
- Racial breakdown of stops has remained roughly the same over time
- NYPD is working on a 14th Amendment compliance plan to address these issues
Yousef Salaam
1:32:51
And I would just wanna push a little bit more on this because the goal of today is to have an honest conversation and discuss potential reforms.
1:32:59
We must agree on the underlying facts.
1:33:02
It remains a consistent and painful truth that despite over a decade of oversight from the federal monitor and ongoing efforts to reform department practices, whether or not you are stopped by the NYPD still seems to be influenced by the color of your skin.
1:33:19
In 2013, when a federal judge found that the NYPD was liable for a pattern of practices of racial profiling in violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, approximately 82% of people stopped by the police were black and Latino, even though these two groups made up only 52% of the city's population.
1:33:42
While the total number of stops has gone down over the years, the racial disparities in who gets stopped has gotten worse.
1:33:52
Last year, 90% of the people stopped by the NYPD were people of color.
1:33:57
Is the NYPD comfortable continuing policing practices that have resulted in black and brown New Yorkers being stopped at a rate nearly 8 times greater than that of white people.
1:34:08
Or would you agree that these stark racial disparities are an indication that there are department department practices that must change so that every community in New York City is policed the same way?
Michael Gerber
1:34:23
So I I think in answering that question, I would start, with referring to the monitor's report on this issue earlier this year.
1:34:31
The monitor did a very comprehensive, detailed, very nuanced report about racial disparities.
1:34:38
It came out, I'm not sure the exact one, but it was definitely earlier this year.
1:34:41
Looking at racial disparities, 2013 to 2020 2, I believe.
1:34:47
And that report, in some ways, was so I'd that report describes very positive developments, but also pointed to some issues, like the ones you're talking about, that really do require very careful analysis.
1:35:01
So I do wanna highlight that in terms of the post stop disparities, and that was a major issue in Floyd back in the day, you know, the sort of post stop racial disparities along variety of lines, arrest, summons, use of force, recovery of contraband.
1:35:19
You know, the monitor found that those racial disparities and there's a there's a the monitor used a sophisticated statistical model, which I could I could not describe to you.
1:35:26
I'm not a statistician.
1:35:27
But, the moderator found those disparities, in many cases, had had collapsed entirely, which is welcome news.
1:35:35
And even with regard to frisks and searches post stop, depending on which area you were looking at and depending on the race, again, you saw disparities that either had been, narrowed or collapsed entirely.
1:35:48
So that is very positive.
1:35:49
Now the report also pointed, to the issue, Sheras Lam, that you just described, which is that the the, racial breakdown in terms of stops, even as the total number has fallen, the sort of racial breakdown has remained roughly the same, over time.
1:36:07
One thing we are working on right now, is a 14th Amendment compliance plan, with the monitor.
1:36:14
And that's something that's incredibly important.
1:36:16
It's important for the monitorship.
1:36:17
It's important to address the issues that you're that you're talking about.
1:36:21
I don't think I can say too much about the substance because it has not been approved by the monitor yet.
1:36:26
But we we provide the monitor with a draft.
1:36:28
We we got comments back.
1:36:29
We we're in we're in that process.
1:36:32
There will be input from plaintiff's counsel as well, and any 4th Amendment compliance plan obviously has to have the final approval of the monitor.
1:36:40
But I'll say, big picture, that the entire point of that compliance plan is to get at these issues, to look at these disparities, to do it in a quantitative way, in a rigorous way, and understand what is driving that.
1:36:54
So I just I do wanna say that that's something that we're actually very focused on.
1:36:57
It's it's been a priority of ours in connection with the monitorship.
1:37:01
And that's something that's something we're hoping to implement.
1:37:04
Again, as we go back and forth with the monitor, we need to get to something that the monitor obviously approves.
1:37:09
We also will need to get input from plaintiff's counsel, which is which is very important.
