As the Zimmerman murder trial rages on, one of the most contested points of the case is why Trayvon Martin was stopped in the first place. Whether racial profiling played a role in the case, police officers everywhere have been implicated.
New York’s stop-and-frisk policy, enforced and supported by Mayor Bloomberg and the NYPD, has been very controversial, in large part because of the disproportionate number of minority men halted by the police. Essentially, stop-and-frisk allows the NYPD to stop anyone they believe is about to commit a crime, is in the process of committing a crime, or has just committed a crime. The stopped individual’s privacy rights go out the window as soon as the police feel they have a reason to search the person.
Outraged citizens have taken to social media platforms to speak out against the unjust policy. One of the most poignant and powerful such tools has been the Twitter account @StopAndFrisk, which continually posts tweets including the subject’s name, age, where he or she was picked up, the reason the NYPD cited for the stop, and whether a weapon was found. The makers tried to tweet at the rate at which the NYPD stops people, but it almost overwhelmed Twitter and shut down the account.
Despite protests, the Mayor and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly insist that the city’s dwindling crime rates can be linked to this method. Others are skeptical and assert that the city was already becoming safer before stop-and-frisk was enforced.
Fortunately, the City is taking steps to reform the NYPD’s practices. Just two days ago, two bills on police oversight advanced. The New York Times explains:
One bill, to create an independent inspector general to monitor the Police Department…The other — a measure commonly referred to as the racial-profiling bill — would allow individuals to bring cases against the police in state court after an action they deemed to be the result of bias.
For now, we’ll have to remember to humanize the victims, as statistics always seem impersonal. We must keep following the tweets and make sure our voices are heard. What do you think about stop-and-frisk?
