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Bloomberg Won't Back Down On Claim That Whites Are Stopped And Frisked Too Much
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Jul 1, 2013
Modified Jul 1, 2013
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Jul 1, 2013
Modified Jul 1, 2013
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Yesterday Mayor Bloomberg was asked about Rev. Al Sharpton's demand that he apologize for saying that NYPD officers "disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little." After dismissing Sharpton as someone only concerned with being "a television star," Bloomberg said, "For years now critics have been trying to argue that minorities are stopped disproportionately; if you look at the crime numbers that's just not true. The numbers don't lie."
By invoking statistics that show that people of color commit and are affected by crime at higher proportions than whites, Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly are showing you just how pernicious racial profiling can be once it's couched in statistics.
Constitutionally permitted stop-and-frisks happen in a vacuum: a police officer must have reasonable suspicion to stop someone on the street. Is the person running from an area where a crime was recently committed? Are they sporting a bulge that looks like a gun? Are they casing a business or home? Race can be used as a factor in stopping someone, but only if it's part of a description given to the officer and paired with the officer's additional judgements used to arrive at reasonable suspicion.
Police officers cannot stop a person of color simply because of hard societal truths or sobering data—88% of the five million people (overwhelmingly male and black or Latino) stopped during the Bloomberg administration were innocent and released. Is the NYPD using reasonable suspicion, or racial shorthand?
Judge Shira Scheindlin, the justice who heard arguments from the City and the plaintiffs in the landmark federal stop-and-frisk trial, elaborated on why invoking the mantra of statistics can ingrain racial stereotypes in police officers' minds that just don't belong there.
What you're drawing from the regression analysis is if they match well that proves there's no race bias. I'm saying it may be precisely the opposite. The closer the match may prove that the officer is saying that since Blacks commit crimes, I should stop Blacks to the same percentage as crime suspects. It's a worrisome argument.
Expect the mayor and the police commissioner to keep shouting about statistics as they attempt to destroy the city council bill passed last week that strengthens prohibitions against racial profiling and gives citizens a meaningful way to challenge discriminatory NYPD policies.
Tagged
mayor bloomberg
Ray Kelly
stop and frisk
stop-and-frisk trial
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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