Independent monitor report says too many people are stopped, frisked, and searched unlawfully by some NYPD Neighborhood Safety Teams
NEW YORK -- A federal independent monitor has put out a new report on the NYPD's Neighborhood Safety Teams.
Among the findings: 97% of people stopped are Black or Hispanic.
Additionally, officers are failing to show reasonable suspicion to conduct 1 out of every 4 stops.
Some are now calling on the NYPD to disband the unit altogether.
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In the 41st Precinct in the Bronx, which covers Longwood and Hunts Point, the new report from the federal monitor finds Neighborhood Safety Teams -- or NSTs -- are making unlawful stops more than 50% of the time, and unlawful frisks and searches around 70% of the time.
"It's been a lot of car stops going on," Longwood resident Chyna Blaze said.
"They just be kids. They be hanging around. They riding their bikes and then they stop them," Hunts Point resident Sean Porter said.
"They should stop them because it's a lot of crime," another person added.
The NSTs were created in March 2022 to combat gun violence in 32 high-crime areas citywide. Officers wear modified uniforms and drive unmarked cars. It started after the NYPD's controversial Anti-Crime Unit was disbanded following racial justice protests in 2020.
However, the report suggests there was more compliance department-wide for stops in 2020 than there is now in the NSTs.
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From May to October, every week, a team looked at 20 NST body-worn cameras a week, and reviewed five stop reports at random. Among the findings: of 230 car stops, only two resulted in the recovery of weapons, and more than 97% of the people stopped by NST officers were Black or Hispanic.
"They're abusing the very rights of people they're supposed to be protecting," said Molly Griffard, a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society's Special Litigation Unit. "That comes with all sorts of problems of driving wedges between the city and communities and racial profiling. We'd call for the city to put an end to these units for good."
But former NYPD Community Affairs lieutenant Darrin Porcher says that's going too far.
"I didn't believe this was a fair assessment," Porcher said. "We see disproportionately higher number of stops in communities of color, but you need to take into consideration you have a higher number of calls for service in those communities."
The NYPD says it disagrees with some of the conclusions of the report, saying in a statement, in part, "NSTs engage with the public lawfully and constitutionally, and since the implementation of the program they have been instrumental in the reduction of shootings and homicides that the city is experiencing. The NYPD takes accountability seriously and has established multiple layers of oversight."
The monitor says the NYPD must now focus on improving compliance and the agency has 30 days to submit a plan on how it will do so.
When asked if she feels like the NYPD is here to protect the public, Blaze said, "Hmm, that's far in between Sometimes yes, sometimes no."
One bright spot the monitor notes is that at least four NST commands do consistently make constitutional stops. The report says those commands should serve as a model for others.