We’re Suing to Stop the NYPD’s Stop-and-Frisk on Wheels

Under Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg, millions of mostly Black and Brown people were stopped and frisked on the streets of New York City. After enormous community pushback, wall-to-wall media coverage, and successful lawsuits by the NYCLU and others, these pedestrian stop-and-frisk numbers plummeted.

But stop-and-frisk is back when it comes to vehicles. In 2024 alone, the NYPD made 855,750 traffic stops and searched over 28,000 cars. Black and Latinx drivers respectively are about ten and six times more likely to have their cars searched by the NYPD than white drivers.

This is stop-and-frisk on wheels, and we’re suing to stop it.

We represent the NAACP New York State Conference in this case, which we filed with the Bronx Defenders and the law firm Milbank LLP. One of our other clients is Justin Cohen, a 35-year-old Black man who was stopped by the NYPD in 2023 for allegedly speeding (the ticket was later dismissed). Officers frisked him and searched his car. Despite not finding anything illegal, the officers arrested Justin and seized his car.

Data the NYCLU uncovered through lawsuits shows just how racially biased these searches are:

• While white, Black, and Latinx drivers are initially stopped at similar rates and receive a similar number of traffic tickets each year, Black and Latinx drivers made up over 84 percent of reported vehicle searches from 2022 through September 2025.
• Overwhelmingly, these searches turn up nothing illegal.
• During the same period, less than four percent of vehicle searches targeted white drivers.

The NYPD uses its vehicle search policy to harass and humiliate drivers of color, who live in constant fear of being targeted – especially since searches can also escalate to arrests, police violence, or having their vehicle unfairly taken away. The NYPD may think that Black and Latinx drivers’ rights don’t matter. But we’re confident a court will disagree.

New Yorkers of color like our client Justin don’t lose their rights when they step behind the wheel. We’re in court to put the brakes on the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk on wheels.