Quinn: Court-Ordered Changes To Stop-And-Frisk Should Start Now
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- City officials have filed notice to appeal the ruling against the NYPD stop-and-frisk policy, but City Council Speaker Christine Quinn wants court-mandated changes to go ahead regardless.
As WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reported Saturday, Quinn -- who is also running for mayor -- said there should be no further delay, and court-ordered changes to the policy should be put into place right away, She said she was filing declarations in U.S. District Court to oppose any motion for a stay in implementation.
Quinn: Court-Ordered Changes To Stop-And-Frisk Should Start Now
"I will fight any attempt to prevent these reforms from being implemented immediately," Quinn said. "In addition, my office will work closely with the plaintiffs in this case to oppose any stay, pending the appeal, and to urge the second circuit to uphold the district court's decision."
The speaker said in federal court especially, getting a stay in the course of an appeal is not a given.
In the decision issued Monday, Manhattan U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin said the NYPD was making the street stops based on race. She did not order an end to the practice, but instead appointed an independent monitor to oversee changes to the policy.
Scheindlin said that the stop-and-frisk policy amounts to "indirect racial profiling," in which "minorities are indeed treated differently than whites," and, "officers are conducting stops in a racially discriminatory manner."
"Far too many people in New York City have been deprived of this basic freedom far too often," she said. "The NYPD's practice of making stops that lack individualized reasonable suspicion has been so pervasive and persistent as to become not only a part of the NYPD's standard operating procedure, but a fact of daily life in some New York City neighborhoods."
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City officials filed a notice of appeal against the ruling Friday.
"We have moved ahead with our formal filings. The mayor, the police commissioner and the city vowed to press forward immediately with an appeal -- and we have done so. The safety of all New Yorkers is at stake," stated Michael A. Cardozo, of the New York City Law Department.
Lawyers have about three months to file the formal brief.
Also Friday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg slammed Judge Scheidnlin, saying she knows "absolutely zero" about police work.
"What does she know about policing? Absolutely zero," Bloomberg said. "Your safety and the safety of your kids is now in the hands of some woman who does not have the expertise to do it."
Bloomberg and other officials have credited the policy in part for a pronounced drop in the homicide rate. The city averages one homicide a day currently, compared with six in 1990.
"We think the judge could not be more wrong. The Supreme Court has ruled, we follow the rules," he said. "This would be a disaster for the city."
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