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NYPD unit tasked with preventing gun violence illegally stops people at high rates, report finds
By
Giulia Heyward
and
Samantha Max
Published Jun 5, 2023
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Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.
By
Giulia Heyward
and
Samantha Max
Published Jun 5, 2023
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In a critical report released Monday, federal monitors who oversee the NYPD urged the department to rein in a group of tactical policing teams charged with combating gun violence.
The report, which is based on a random sample of police paperwork and body camera footage, said officers on the city’s so-called Neighborhood Safety Teams did not have legal justification for about a quarter of reviewed stops. More than 97% of the people officers encountered during stops the monitors reviewed were Black or Hispanic.
“Despite training and experience, [Neighborhood Safety Team] officers overall appear to be stopping, frisking and searching individuals at an unsatisfactory level of compliance,” the report reads. “Too many people are stopped, frisked and searched unlawfully.”
When Mayor Eric Adams and Commissioner Keechant Sewell deployed the Neighborhood Safety Teams to communities with high rates of gun violence last year, critics said they feared that the teams would revive the aggressive tactics of the department’s controversial anti-crime units. Then-Mayor Bill de Blasio disbanded those units in 2020, in response to findings that they accounted for a disproportionate number of fatal shootings and civilian complaints.
New York Civil Liberties Union senior staff attorney Daniel Lambright said the mayor’s administration “believes that throwing cops at issues is how you solve problems.”
“That’s not how that works,” he continued. “In fact, it only leads to unlawful encounters between citizens and generations of young Black and brown men being dehumanized and embarrassed on the streets of New York – and being made to be second-class citizens.”
The monitors’ findings seem to legitimize critics’ fears. The concerns raised in the report echo patterns that have also emerged in past analyses of NYPD data: people of color are stopped in disproportionate numbers, while the stops themselves are often unlawful or turn up no evidence of a crime.
In the 41st precinct in the Bronx, the report found that Neighborhood Safety Team officers had legal justification for just 41% of stops, 32% of frisks and 26% of searches. Another report finding: Of 230 car stops reviewed, only two resulted in recovered weapons and two in recovered contraband.
“Our clients and all New Yorkers deserve to live their lives without the fear of being targeted by the hyper-aggressive policing tactics that the Neighborhood Safety Teams are quickly becoming known for,” said Molly Griffard, Legal Aid staff attorney. “Today’s report by the NYPD monitor suggests that these units are off to a troubling start.”
The NYPD told Gothamist that it “disagrees with the conclusions of the Monitor with respect to some of the encounters the team reviewed.”
“[Neighborhood Safety Teams] engage with the public lawfully and constitutionally, and since the implementation of the program they have been instrumental in the reduction of shootings and homicides that the City is experiencing,” a spokesperson for the police department’s public information office said. “The NYPD takes accountability seriously and has established multiple layers of oversight.”
The Mayor’s Office said it had “serious concerns with the methodology used” in the study.
“The Neighborhood Safety Teams have enhanced training and oversight to ensure we are not only keeping New Yorkers safe, but protecting their civil liberties as well,” spokesperson Fabien Levy told Gothamist. “Of course, any unconstitutional stop is unacceptable and we will strive to do better for New Yorkers every day. As Mayor Adams always says, the prerequisites to prosperity are public safety and justice.”
The study is based on a review of body-worn camera footage and police reports detailing stops that occurred between April and October of last year. Lambright said his organization had no reason to believe that the methodology used in Monday’s report was flawed.
The report also comes after data collected from the NYCLU revealed police stopped and questioned more New Yorkers last year than the one before. Officers only found a weapon in about one in six pedestrian stops in 2022 and recovered a gun in just one in 13 stops, according to a recent Gothamist analysis of NYPD data.
Lambright told Gothamist that those trends are continuing, and the NYCLU plans to update the report each quarter.
The report did say that some teams “appear to be engaging in constitutional stops, frisks and searches consistently.” The monitors suggested that this meant “lawful and effective policing are not incompatible.”
The federal monitors plan to conduct another review of the program in the future. It is also directing the NYPD to “develop a plan for improved compliance within the next 30 days.”
Some other key findings from the report include:
- The share of Neighborhood Safety Team illegal stops reviewed by the monitors was nine percentage points above the 2020 department-wide rate
- When Neighborhood Safety Team officers initiated a stop on their own — rather than responding to a 911 call — they had a reasonable suspicion to do so 69% of the time
- Officers on the teams had reasonable suspicion for 73% of frisks and 63% of searches
- Supervisors often failed to identify or correct improper stops, frisks and searches
- Eight non-Neighborhood Safety Team commands had a higher percentage of lawful stops than counterparts in Neighborhood Safety Teams, which are supposed to be highly trained and experienced
Correction: Due to incorrect information provided to Gothamist, an earlier version of this story misstated the NYCLU's future plans for reporting on police stops. The organization plans to update the current report each quarter.
Tagged
nypd
stop and frisk
eric adams
gun violence
Giulia Heyward
Giulia Heyward is a breaking news reporter on the Day-Of desk. She previously worked at NPR, as a breaking news reporter, and the New York Times, as a reporting fellow on the national desk. Her work has also appeared in CNN, The Atlantic and Politico. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or more securely on signal at 917-715-1458.
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Samantha Max
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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