He was definitely hard on black criminals as Mayor - maybe he can pay them reparations from his own pocket.
Originally Posted by friendly fred
I doubt the "stop and frisk" policy targeted the Black community ... but it may have impacted those Black people who sought to peruse neighborhoods and business zones for targets of opportunity.
BTY: "stop and frisk" (although a misnomer) was approved by the SCOTUS in Terry vs. Ohio, and Clarence Thomas wrote on it more recently by explaining the "misnomer" and the scope of the tactic.
If one wishes to be more enlightened on the topic the case immediately following Terry in the U.S. Supreme Court Reporter is "New York vs. Sibron aka Sibron vs. New York (which is actually two cases combined as the Court often does on its docket) in which the Court explains the holdings in Terry.
But just because the SC "authorizes" the activity doesn't mean agencies must comply with it and can establish their own contrary departmental policies. Under Bloomberg the city adopted "stop and frisk" as a discretionary policy.
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CPL/140.50
Section 140.50
Temporary questioning of persons in public places; search for weapons
Criminal Procedure (CPL)
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§ 140.50 Temporary questioning of persons in public places; search for
weapons.
1. In addition to the authority provided by this article for making an arrest without a warrant, a police officer may stop a person in a public place located within the geographical area of such officer's employment when he reasonably suspects that such person is committing, has committed or is about to commit either (a) a felony or (b) a misdemeanor defined in the penal law, and may demand of him his name, address and an explanation of his conduct.
2. Any person who is a peace officer and who provides security services for any court of the unified court system may stop a person in or about the courthouse to which he is assigned when he reasonably suspects that such person is committing, has committed or is about to commit either (a) a felony or (b) a misdemeanor defined in the penal law, and may demand of him his name, address and an explanation of his conduct.
3. When upon stopping a person under circumstances prescribed in subdivisions one and two a police officer or court officer, as the case may be, reasonably suspects that he is in danger of physical injury, he may search such person for a deadly weapon or any instrument, article or substance readily capable of causing serious physical injury and of a sort not ordinarily carried in public places by law-abiding persons. If he finds such a weapon or instrument, or any other property possession of which he reasonably believes may constitute the commission of a crime, he may take it and keep it until the completion of the questioning, at which time he shall either return it, if lawfully possessed, or arrest such person.
4. In cities with a population of one million or more, information that establishes the personal identity of an individual who has been stopped, questioned and/or frisked by a police officer or peace officer, such as the name, address or social security number of such person, shall not be recorded in a computerized or electronic database if that individual is released without further legal action; provided, however, that this subdivision shall not prohibit police officers or peace officers from including in a computerized or electronic database generic characteristics of an individual, such as race and gender, who has been stopped, questioned and/or frisked by a police officer or peace officer.
The distinction (created by the misnomer) is in the statute it authorizes the officer "TO STOP"
the suspicious PERSON
and that's not what the SCOTUS authorized! But that was an interpretation applied throughout the country. Thomas later clarified that ... which is a source of criticism of the NYC practice following the unauthorized statute passed by the NY legislature.