After more than two hours of heated debate, the New York City Council overrode Mayor Michael Bloomberg's vetoes of legislation looking to curb Stop and Frisk, a controversial police practice that opponents say unfairly targets minorities.
The council voted to override the vetoes in a 39-10 vote this week. As a result, the two measures which scale back police powers to halt and question suspicious characters on city streets will become law within 90 days, reports the New York Post.
One measure includes hiring an inspector general with the power to oversee the New York City Police Department and ensure officers don't infringe upon minorities' rights while conducting investigations. The second bill expands the rights of people who feel violated by police Stop and Frisk policies to proceed with racial profiling lawsuits.
In response, Bloomberg vowed to pursue a court fight on Stop and Frisk and a council-approved ban on racial profiling Friday morning, reports ABC News. He said he would ask the courts to intervene in that case "before innocent people are harmed."
According to the mayor, Stop and Frisk enables city officers to protect neighborhoods, and without it "minority communities across our city" would be in more danger.
However, civil rights activists have called the practice discriminatory and say it unfairly discriminates against minorities.
The Stats
According to the NYCLU, innocent New Yorkers have been subjected to police stops and street interrogations more than 4 million times since 2002, while those in black and Latino communities continue to be the overwhelming target of these tactics. Nearly nine out of 10 stopped-and-frisked New Yorkers have been completely innocent, the NYPD's own reports.
In 2011, 88 percent of all stops and frisks did not result in an arrest or a summons being given. Blacks and Latinos made up 84 percent of all those stopped, although they make up respectively 23 and 29 percent of New York City's total population. Furthermore, NYPD officers are more likely to use physical force against Blacks and Latinos during stops; in 2011, the NYPD used force against Blacks 76,483 times, and only 9,765 times against Whites.
Although guns are found in less than 0.2 percent of stops the practice of stop-and-frisk has increased more than 600 percent under the Bloomberg Administration.
A New York Times study which analyzed the reasons why officers implemented the Stop and Frisk policy between 2006-2010 found that cited reasons for NYPD stops varied from "furtive movement" (44.1% of all stops), "fits description" (16.7%), and "Other" (20.2%). Opponents say these reasons are very general and subjective.
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