Report Says NYPD Still Using Unlawful Stop-and-Frisk Tactics

By: Hellen Zaboulani

A new report by a court-appointed monitor shows that the NYPD’s anti-crime units were still using illegal stop-and-frisk measures too often in 2023.

As reported by the NY Times, on Monday, monitor Mylan L. Denerstein filed a report in federal court which found that the units, the Neighborhood Safety Teams and Public Safety Teams, made illegal stops at least a quarter of the time in year 2023, which is the most recent available data. Also, the report said that command-level supervisors regularly failed to identify or address these unlawful stops. “The N.Y.P.D. must focus on supervisors ensuring implementation of constitutionally compliant stops, frisks and searches,” Ms. Denerstein, a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, wrote in the report’s executive summary. “The ball is in the Department’s hands, and the N.Y.P.D. can do this. The law requires no less.”

The latest report, is the 23rd such assessment since 2013— when a federal court ruled that the police department’s use of stop and frisk was unconstitutional and appointed an independent monitor to oversee use of the practice.

As per the Times, the report comes at precarious timing, as the Big Apple is getting ready to hold primaries for the Democratic mayoral candidate in June. Mayor Eric Adams, a former police captain who previously served in the NYPD for 22 years, faces a federal corruption trial in April. While his personal favorability ratings dwindle, the city’s focus during the elections seem to be on public safety and crime. During the mayor’s reign, the NYPD has had four police commissioners in less than three years and has in recent months endured scandals, including accusations of misconduct among top officials.

Commissioner Jessica Tisch has quickly shaken up the department’s upper ranks in an obvious attempt to reinstate order. Still, the report, does not bode particularly well for the department, which has been through a decade-long struggle to limit unlawful stops and searches in compliance with court-ordered reforms.

The new report shows the Neighborhood Safety Teams units were found to use the stop-and-frisk method more often than regular patrol cops. The teams, revived in 2022 by Mayor Adams, drive unmarked cars, wear different uniforms and focus on getting firearms off the streets. The report found the unit had a legal basis for making stops only 75 percent of the time, based on analyzed reports and body camera footage. Some 89% percent of the people stopped were Black or Hispanic men, the report found. The rate of unlawful stops, frisks and searches has not improved since the monitor’s last audit of the units was filed in June 2023, the NY Times reported.

In a statement Monday, the Police Department said: “We appreciate the monitor’s report and look forward to reviewing it. As the report notes, this data is from 2023 and the N.Y.P.D. has taken affirmative steps since then to address many of these issues.”

Ms. Denerstein did note in the report that the NYPD made improvements since January 2024, when it rolled out a plan to require more training, auditing and rigorous vetting of Neighborhood Safety Teams.

Ms. Denerstein noted that the monitoring team has had regular meetings to review body-worn camera footage and identify any improper stops, frisks or searches. The report said the meetings seem “promising and we look forward to examining whether it has impacted compliance in the field.”

However, the report also set a deadline for the end of September, by which point all officers must reach at least 85 percent compliance with constitutional standards for stops, frisks and searches.