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Illegal Stop And Frisks Mean Booming Low-Level Pot Arrests
By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 26, 2011
Modified Apr 26, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 26, 2011
Modified Apr 26, 2011
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In a new investigative report, WNYC reiterates what we thought was pretty much common knowledge: the NYPD's aggressive stop and frisk strategy has yielded a huge number of arrests for low-level marijuana possession, and 90 percent of the "perps" are black and Latino. Last year NYPD officers made 601,055 street stops, the first time that number has topped the 600K mark, according to public records obtained by the AP. And while WYNC's report doesn't contain any new revelations, it's still an important, infuriating read, and it comes with this vivid map breaking down the low-level pot arrests by neighborhood and ethnicity:
The overall picture that emerges is that when it comes to pot possession, it's all right if it's all white. "In New York, blacks are arrested at seven times the rate of whites, and Latinos are arrested at about three to four times the rate of whites. All this is happening even as young whites use marijuana at higher rates than blacks and Latinos," Harry Levine of Queens College tells WNYC.
NYPD spokesperson Paul Browne insists officers who conduct improper searches and pat-downs are disciplined, but Peter Moskos at John Jay College of Criminal Justice says police are going far beyond their own guidelines and making busts for little bags of concealed pot when they are ostensibly looking for weapons. "If you feel a hard object in one pocket, you can go into that pocket to investigate, but that doesn't give you the right to go into every pocket, and in people’s crotches and shoes and socks," Moskos tells WNYC.
Possession of small amounts of marijuana (less than 25 grams) was decriminalized in New York State in the '70s; unless it's burning or in public view, it's a violation, not an arrestable offense. But the NYPD's possession arrests often describe the pot as in public view—which tends to happen after the officer finds it during a pat-down and pulls it out. "I've worked in this community for 13 years, and I just never see people standing on street corners with their hands wide open, palms open to the sky, with bags of marijuana sitting in their hand," says Robin Steinberg, executive director of South Bronx legal defense organization Bronx Defenders. "It's nonsensical. Everybody knows it’s not true."
Tagged
marijuana
pot
stop and frisk
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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