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Stop-and-frisk police searches will be monitored

Philadelphia Police Sgt. D.F. Pace puts his fingers into Sgt. Martin Klepac's pocket, an illegal move during a frisk in this 2008 file photo. (Charles Fox / Staff Photographer)
Philadelphia Police Sgt. D.F. Pace puts his fingers into Sgt. Martin Klepac's pocket, an illegal move during a frisk in this 2008 file photo. (Charles Fox / Staff Photographer)Read more
    by By Allison Steele, Inquirer Staff Writer
    Published 

The police department's controversial "stop-and-frisk" searches will be tracked, monitored and audited regularly as part of a settlement agreement the city announced this morning.

All stops conducted by police officers will be entered into a computer database, and the data will be monitored by both the department's internal affairs bureau and an outside auditor, Mayor Nutter said at a City Hall news conference.

Officers will also receive training in using the database and in conducting the stops constitutionally.

The settlement stems from a class-action lawsuit filed against the city last year by the American Civil Liberties Union, which alleged that the department stops and searches many black and Latino men without just cause. The suit was filed on behalf of eight men who said they had been searched illegally.

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