NYC Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly lashes out at critics of stop-and-frisk policy

It sure seemed like a “Bite Me” moment when the Commish was grilled at a City Council hearing about the city’s barely constitutional stop-and-frisk policy.

First some background. According to the Daily News, “In 2011, the NYPD stopped more than 684,000 people, a record high. The stats, obtained by the NYCLU, show about 10% of those stops resulted in an arrest or a summons. About 53% of the people stopped were black, 34% were Hispanic and only 9% were white.” Note: under Giuliani, only about 1/6 as many were stopped.

When challenged about the policy, Commissioner Kelly “fired back at elected officials who criticized the stop-and-frisk program and pushed them to offer another solution to curb gun violence. Not one could cough up an answer. . . . ‘I asked you for a solution to the problem of violence in these communities of color,’ he said. ‘I haven’t heard it.’ ”

Kelly’s ripost apparently caught the council members flat-footed. In a later email, however, Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito said that her office had helped write just such an anti-violence plan in late 2011.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly lashes out at critics of stop-and-frisk policy – NY Daily News.

One thought on “NYC Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly lashes out at critics of stop-and-frisk policy

  1. MrMild just sent us a link to this NY Times article: “Judge Grants Class-Action Status to Stop-and-Frisk Suit.”

    According to the Times, “A federal judge on Wednesday granted class-action status to a lawsuit challenging the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk tactics, saying she was disturbed by the city’s ‘deeply troubling apathy towards New Yorkers’ most fundamental constitutional rights.’ ”
    http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/16/judge-allows-class-action-status-in-stop-and-frisk-lawsuit/?ref=nyregion

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