NYPD cops demonstrate stop-and-frisk
By JESSICA SIMEONE and DAN MANGAN
Last Updated: 11:48 AM, June 21, 2012
Posted: 12:46 AM, June 21, 2012
(See video)
It’s a scene that plays out thousands of times a day on the streets of New York.
NYPD cops spot a potential perp, the person is questioned and — if necessary — patted down to search for weapons or drugs.
At that point, the person is either arrested or allowed to go.
Police officials say the crimefighting tactic known as “stop-and-frisk” is instrumental in keeping guns off the street and reducing the murder rate. Critics claim it unfairly targets minorities.
Yesterday, the NYPD gave an unprecedented demonstration for reporters of how officers are trained for street stops, at the Rodman’s Neck facility in The Bronx.
“It’s our belief that this training will lead to a drop in the number of stops and an increase in the quality of stops,” said James O’Keefe, deputy commissioner of the Police Department’s Training Bureau.
In the first scenario, two cops responded to a call of a robbery over the radio and zeroed in on a white man in a red T-shirt and a black man in a black T-shirt who fit descriptions given by the “victim.”
Cops spoke to the men, separated them from the crowd, put them against a wall and patted them down. They arrested the white suspect after he was identified by the victim.
“What the officers had to do was realize that they had reasonable suspicion because they fit the description and were together,” said Police Academy Commanding Officer James Shea.
“We break down every encounter into three parts — how you approach, the actual encounter and then how you disengage,” Shea said. “And each one is equally important.”
“The most important thing is how you disengage from that person who you stopped who was not guilty of a crime.”
In the second scenario, officers on patrol in a housing project encountered a man who claimed he was locked out of his apartment.
The cops knocked on the door with no answer and told the man to leave. After initially resisting, he complied. Shea said because there was no reasonable suspicion that a crime had occurred, he was not detained.In the last scenario, cops responded to an anonymous complaint of drug sales. When officers arrived, they found a crowd of people who said nothing and dispersed after police asked what was going on. Officers then found a bag of narcotics on the ground.
Because the call was anonymous and police didn’t witness any illegal activity, there was no justification to detain anyone.