New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg blasted a federal judge's decision labeling the NYPD's stop-and-frisk crime prevention policy as a discriminatory practice. The mayor warned that the decision could instigate a spike in high violent crimes in the city, the Associated Press reported.
"This is a dangerous decision made by a judge who I think does not understand how policing works and what is compliant with the U.S. Constitution as determined by the Supreme Court. I worry for my kids, and I worry for your kids. I worry for you and I worry for me. Crime can come back any time the criminals think they can get away with things. We just cannot let that happen," Bloomberg said.
"Police have intentionally and systematically violated the civil rights of tens of thousands of people by unjustly targeting black and Hispanic men," U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin said. Scheindlin appointed an outside monitor in an effort to over see major changes to the tactics, which include a restructuring of training and policies, Politico.com reported. Scheindlin noted she was not putting an end to the practice, which is constitutional, but was reforming the way the NYPD implemented its stops.
The mayor, who is in his last term in office, said that the stop-and-frisk policy has substantially reduced the number of crimes in the city, as it is just a "fact" that more crimes have been committed by Hispanic and black men. While stop-and frisk has been prevalent for decades, recorded stops increased under the Bloomberg administration, particularly in 2011, which reached 684,300 cases. In 2004, four men filed a class-action lawsuit claiming discrimination.
New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, like Mayor Bloomberg, was irate about the district judge's decision: "What I find most disturbing and offensive about this decision is the notion that the NYPD engages in racial profiling," Kelly said. "That is simply recklessly untrue. We do not engage in racial profiling. It is prohibited by law. It is prohibited by our own regulations,"
District Judge Scheindlin meanwhile determined that, "Far too many people in New York City have been deprived of this basic freedom far too often. The NYPD's practice of making stops that lack individualized reasonable suspicion has been so pervasive and persistent as to become not only a part of the NYPD's standard operating procedure, but a fact of daily life in some New York City neighborhoods."
Mayor Bloomberg said that he and the NYPD never got a fair trial, and that they intend to present "evidence of unfairness" in the appeals court soon.
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