NYPD Stop-and-Frisk Panel is PR, Not Reform

In a story in The Wall Street Journal, the NYPD has announced the creation of an advisory panel with 12 hand-picked representatives from the community as its response to the groundswell of opposition that has emerged against the Department’s unlawful and discriminatory stop-and-frisk program, a move dismissed by the leadership of the New York Civil Liberties Union.

“The out of control stop-and-frisk program demands a major overhaul, not a PR campaign. And the NYPD needs an Inspector General to ensure independent oversight and accountability, not a cherry-picked community panel,” said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. “The police commissioner has sworn complaints in four major class-action lawsuits in front of him and a scathing decision by a federal judge just a few weeks ago. The facts are out there. What’s missing are the reforms.”

In response to discriminatory policing practices like the abuse of stop-and-frisk, the NYCLU and our allies in Communities United for Police Reform are working to pass the Community Safety Act, a series of City Council bills that would strengthen the definition of discrimination, ensure that New Yorkers understand their right to not consent to searches where no probable cause or warrant exists, require that NYPD officers identify themselves when conducting stop-and-frisks or engaging in other police activities, and create an NYPD Inspector General’s office.