"Yo! Hold it. Hold it. You got some ID? What are you doing here? I need to see some ID to verify that you live here."
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"Yo! Hold it. Hold it. You got some ID? What are you doing here? I need to see some ID to verify that you live here."
This story, on the front page of today's New York Times, is the best look I've read yet on the creeping police statism (my phrase -- not theirs) of New York City's stop-and-frisk, run amok. That's because it starts with the old-fashioned shoe-leather underpinnings of Journalism 101 -- what does it feel like to be repeatedly stopped by cops in the so-called public square?
The questions are probing, authoritative, but less accusatory. “What are you doing here?” “Do you live here?” “Can I see some identification, please?” During the pat-down, they ask, “Do you have anything on you?” They nudge further: “You don’t mind if I search you, do you?” They explain that someone of a matching description robbed a store a few days ago, or that the stop is a random one, part of a program in a high-crime area. Then they apologize for the stop and say the person is free to go.
In interviews with 100 people who said they had been stopped by the New York police in neighborhoods where the practice is most common, many said the experience left them feeling intruded upon and humiliated. And even when officers extended niceties, like “Have a nice night,” or called them “sir” and “ma’am,” people said they questioned whether the officer was being genuine.
Michael Delgado, 18, said he was last stopped on Grant Street in East New York, Brooklyn. “I was walking, and a cop said, ‘Where’s the weed?’ ” he recalled. “In my mind, I’m like, ‘Yo, this guy’s a racist.’ He started frisking me, his hands were in my pockets, but I didn’t say anything because my mom always tells me: ‘No altercations. Let him do his thing.’ ”
I have to confess that I had a blase attitude (attytood?) about stop-and-frisk during the years it was in full bloom here in Philadelphia. The events, unfortunate and otherwise, of Occupy Wall Street last fall were a real eye-opener for me in terms of how far the pendulum on civil liberties has swung in the wrong direction since the turmoil of the 1960s, fueled by the seemingly unconnected accelerant of 9/11. The harm that stop-and-frisk is doing to our once civil society far outweighs the handful of bad guys caught in the nets.
One really cool footnote to this article: The byline. You may remember my piece last month bemoaning the departure from Philadelphia of my now-former colleague, the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Wendy Ruderman -- the new chief of the police bureau for the New York Times. This is her first major piece, right out of the box, and it's a home run, just like we all predicted. So it's some small consolation that she's still providing fodder for the blog!
(New York Times photo/Chang W. Lee)
Quit whining.Still waiting for a serious "journalistitic" post on fast and furious. Coward.— georgel- I know I wouldn't like it if I got stopped and frisked in my neighborhood. If I lived in a crummy crime infested neighborhood, in which there were frequent shootings and illegal contraband endangering my kids, I might have a different notion, and appreciate the police effort to clean up my neighborhood.
I don't know if that's true, since I don't currently live under those conditions, so I really can't judge.— Mr. Smith - I agree, Occupy (name of town here) was unfortunate. Liberties taken by the scum attendees were a disgrace, as was most every city's reluctance to enforce laws to make them go away. And please explain how the occupy nitwits contributed to 'our once civil society'.— jimmymack
- Georgel,
If you want serious "journalistic" (spelled correctly), check out the article in Fortune magazine. The claim that the administration let guns walk into drug cartels in Mexico is not true. This is a ginned up non scandal by you tea baggin Repubs. Just more lies and distortions from the right to make sure Obama is a one term president. You clowns have not a shred of integrity or patriotism. The whole bunch of you are un-American traitors that will do anything to win an election. Sad, pathetic, and weak.— oldlion - Well, you are wrong. Holder admitted that it did happen. All that is still in doubt is who knew what and when. Tell the dead officers family it is a ginned up non scandal.If there is no issue, why not release the papers? Executive privilege only applies to the chief executive. What are they hiding about TheOne? Not sure I know what a teabgger is. Care to explain? And you are a barking moonbat. If there is a God (someone you guys abhor) Obummer will be a one term president.
— georgel - "Show me your papers!" Schnell, cshnell.— Wilhelm Von Humboldt
- Ole' Bunchie Boy...it finally happened. Yes, I agree with you. If the police have no clear & valid probable cause, they should not be permitted to bother free citizens. I am passionately opposed to DUI checkpoints and BS traffic stops which serve as justification for police "fishing expeditions".
Now, Bunch, we both should be concerned. There is no way a person like me should be even close to agreeing with you...on anything. I am passionate about personal responsibility, hard work and personal sacrifice....all things you despise up there on your entitlement minded planet called Bunchatron in the distant left wing looney galaxy. Yes, I am concerned.— kelprod2 - The same happened to me as a white guy in North Philly while dropping off a friend a couple of years ago. The cop was Black and asked me what I was doing there. He said "you're not down here to by drugs are you"? I said no and he still searched me and my car.— Phishface
- I have agents of the state digging into my pockets every day. They're called the government.— jmc
- Maybe with a little more digging, Ms. Pulitzer might just find that there is a correlation between the the amount of stop and frisk incidents and the crime rate in the neighborhood.— jmc
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