Murray Hill Among Neighborhoods Least Targeted By Stop-And-Frisk

MURRAY HILL, NY — A new report reveals that even among neighborhoods with the fewest stop-and-frisks by the police, racial disparities persist.

Murray Hill, Kips Bay and Turtle Bay had the fourth lowest number of reported stops by officers in the city — with 374 stops between 2014 and 2017, according to a new report released Thursday by the New York Civil Liberties Union.

But despite the low numbers relative to the city, 75 percent of the people stopped in those neighborhoods were black and Latino people — though black and Latino people make up just 8 percent of the population in the 17th Precinct.

The latest report illuminates racial disparities that persist even though the number of stops has plummeted drastically since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office.

Between 2011 and 2017, reported stops saw a 98 percent drop, from more than 685,000 to 11,629.

"The decline in sheer number of stops is important progress, but it does not change the fact that black and Latino New Yorkers are still disproportionately targeted by stop-and-frisk policing," Donna Lieberman, executive director of the NYCLU, said in a statement.

The disparity particularly affects black and Latino children and young men.

Thirty-eight percent of reported stops were black and Latino youth between ages 14 and 24 — though they make up 5 percent of the population, the report said.

Citywide, more than 8 in ten people were stopped by cops between 2014 and 2017 were black and Latino. Eleven percent were white, the report shows. Ozone Parks and Howard Beach in Queens had the highest number of stops at 5,184 stops. Greenwich Village and SoHo's Sixth Precinct had the fewest with 224, not counting Central Park, which had 191.

The NYPD emphasized the drastic reduction in stop-and-frisks since 2011, saying the "decrease reflects the deliberate shift in NYPD strategic focus over the past several years to precise, surgical targeting of crime and criminals."

"The result is fewer stops, and fewer arrests and summonses — all while continuing to drive crime to record low levels," an NYPD spokesperson said. Refining the department's tactics continue with scenario-based exercises and a one-day training course as well as enhancing the Police Academy recruit course, the spokesperson said.

Though the city is safer than before, the report shows that racial disparities still exist among people who are stopped by police, Lieberman said.

"No amount of fear mongering from President Trump, whose lack of regard for fact-based policy extends to law enforcement, can prompt New York to return to the harmful, racially divisive ineffective, and out of control stop-and-frisk that began with Giuliani and continued until the current administration," Lieberman said.