“STOP AND FRISK”- NYPD GOES ON TRIAL

Black and Hispanic men are finally having their day in Mahattan courtroom. The controversal issue NYPD stopping “suspicious” suspects at their discetion to frisl them has finally gone on trial. Whether this practice is legal or not is at question, and minority groups will now get an answer.

Atlanta Black Star reports:

The trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan will determine the legality of the stop-and-frisk program and have an enormous impact on policing procedures used by the NYPD in the future. It is also likely to effect the way the NYPD relates to black and Latino men in the city.

Though testimony from the plaintiffs will come from about a dozen black and Latino men (and one Latino woman) about their experiences with stop-and-frisk, the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit say they represent “hundreds of thousands if not millions of people” who experienced “suspicionless and race-based stops.”

“At stake are the constitutional rights of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who have been illegally stopped,” said Vince Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, the organization that filed the suit. “These are people who are living under a state of siege in their own neighborhoods.”

This trial will bring light to a deep-rooted issue, and hopefully bring justice for countless Black and Latino Americans.

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