On Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo waded into the stop-and-frisk debate—the practice where police officers may stop anyone on the street they deem suspicious for questioning and a search—by during such stops.
The practice of stop-and-frisk had long been controversial, but the NYPD swears that the searches have been keeping our streets safer.
But in May, NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous, 1199 SEIU President George Gresham and Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network joined other civil rights leaders, faith leaders and elected officials in Foley Square to , arguing that blacks and Latinos are nine times as likely as whites to be stopped.
Days later, cleared the way for class action lawsuits against the NYPD by people who believe they were wrongfully stopped and searched, based their race or background.
Politicians like , and even have called on the city and the state to crack down on race-based stop-and-frisks, saying that the practice creates distrust between the community and police.
So do you think Cuomo’s decision will help turn the tide on street questioning? Or could the situation potentially worsen, with cops doubling the stops they make in order to fulfill arrest quotas now that marijuana will be off the table in most cases? Vote in the poll below, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
