SOMETHING MUCH WORSE THAN STOP AND FRISK: ARREST QUOTAS

Follow my words here carefully. In 2013, a federal judge, Shira A. Scheindlin, in a 193 page ruling, stated that New York’s horrendous “stop and frisk” police tactic was unconstitutional because it unfairly and disproportionately targeted “blacks and Hispanics who would not have been stopped if they were white.” She did not rule that “stop and frisk” in and of itself is unconstitutional, but that the way New York was administering it, on the backs of people of color, was. The facts were undeniable, but the practice itself was not overruled.

A staggering 5 million incidents of stop and frisk took place in New York since 2002. Nearly 90% of those stops were of people who were found to be completely innocent. The overwhelming majority of stops, of course, were done against black and Latino residents of the city. When the practice was formally disbanded in New York City after Judge Scheindlin’s decision, it was seen as an enormous victory for police reforms. And it was, but something that is perhaps even more nefarious than stop and frisk unofficially rose up within the NYPD to take its place — a crisis of false arrests driven by an unwritten quota system being overseen by precincts across the city.

Just three days after Donald Trump was inaugurated, New York City agreed to something that is so scandalous, so huge, that only the incoming presidency of Donald Trump could’ve outshined it. New York City agreed to pay $75 million (that’s $75,000,000) out in a police corruption case that should’ve rocked the city and the nation to its core. They likely chose that date and time on purpose. The case had been in litigation for years and years, but the city chose one of the most fragile, news heavy times in the history of modern American media to drop an absolute bomb. The city admitted that it was forced to dismiss over 900,000 arrests and summonses because they simply didn’t have the evidence to back them. These weren’t 900,000 stops that were made, but 900,000 legal actions accusing people of crimes that they did not commit. They were all bogus. Not 9,000. Not 90,000 — which seems like an outrageous number, but 900,000. Not only that, but the case actually had its very own deleted email scandal, where almost every single email Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly ever sent was deleted — never to be found again. Yeah, really.

Here’s the lawsuit:

Here’s the $75,000,000 settlement with 900,000+ bogus cases.

In the settlement, the NYPD refused to admit that they were using quotas, but did agree that they would send out updated notices to every officer and leader that they are banned. Mind you, that’s already been done many times before. How in the hell does a city accumulate 900,000 false arrests and summonses? I’m glad you asked. Officers within the department have already spelled it out very clearly.

To understand the misconduct, brutality, forced pleas, false witnesses, and corruption that I am about to share, you must first understand the unjust system that police officers themselves have bravely identified as being the root source of it all — arrest quotas. Yes, racism and bigotry and white supremacy, conscious or otherwise, are all essential underlying problems with policing in America, but arrest quotas, or the departmental demand that each officer has a certain number of arrests, preferably with certain types of crimes, on the backs of certain types of people, are the vehicle that allows America’s worst instincts to wreak havoc on the lives of everyday people in New York. Gentrification has essentially pushed these horrible practices out of the eyesight of New York’s privileged class and the victory of Stop and Frisk being cut down gave both the city and the NYPD false cover for something that is arguably far worse.

The systemic foundation of the next four parts of this series was not set by me, but by heroic, award-winning officers within the NYPD who believed with all of their heart that arrest quotas, imposed on everyday cops by their supervisors, were not only deeply unjust for the hundreds of thousands of New York City residents affected by these quotas who are frequently targeted and arrested without cause, but that the system is poisonous for officers themselves — actually breeding the worst instincts of racism, brutality, and corruption from the top down.

What I’m about to say could get slightly wonky, but I’m asking you to look past the legalese and understand that what we are talking about here are amazingly brave cops who put their lives and careers on the line to stand up for what they thought was right by not only speaking out against unjust practices within the department, but by actually suing the NYPD, their supervisors, and the City of New York to expose such things. I’m going to share five different cases with you that involve a combined 15 different NYPD officers who have taken the courageous step of filing suit to prove that the NYPD is illegally using arrest quotas. 13 of these officers are still currently working within the department. These are not jaded cops with an ax to grind. Filing these suits, while insisting on remaining cops within the NYPD, has made their day to day duty within the department a living hell. They’ve been harassed, ridiculed, and blacklisted, but have continued to push through not only because they love their jobs, but because they want to change the department from the inside out.

I’ll start with the most recent case and work my way backwards.

Officers of the NYPD 12

The NYPD 12 v. The City of New York, The Mayor of New York, The Police Commissioner, and the Commanding Officer of Patrol Services

Read their full 49 page lawsuit below. It’s some of the most deeply compelling stuff you’ll ever read. Again, because this lawsuit of twelve courageous officers standing against injustice within their own department broke during the Trump campaign, it appears to have gotten lost in the shuffle. It gets no bigger than this case.

Also, please read “A Black Officer’s Fight Against the NYPD” by Saki Knafo. This article masterfully unpacks the story of Edwin Raymond, who serves as the lead plaintiff in this case as well as many of the painful stories of the eleven other black and Latino officers who tried to do right by changing the department from within, only to suffer serious consequences as a result.

This is the most important lawsuit ever filed against the NYPD. It is currently up for review. Attorneys on the case, and officers who filed as plaintiffs, have each told me that the city has fought and delayed and stalled this case at every turn. The evidence of arrest quotas, and the mistreatment officers received for not meeting them, that they have compiled is both damning and undeniable.

I’ve met personally with seven of the plaintiffs — all current NYPD officers. They’ve put their lives on the line by filing this case. These are high-performing cops. They loathe crime and want to make the city safe, but simply put their foot down when they were expected to make arrests and meet quotas whether they saw crime or not. The officers have, of course, recorded extensive evidence of the illegal quota system to back their claims.

Here they are talking about it. You have to see this for yourself.

Here is Sgt. Edwin Raymond speaking at length about the racial quota systems.

These first two lawsuits are from respected police officers within the 42nd Precinct -which will be the focus of this series. The 42nd Precinct is the same crew that we will prove has attempted to frame Pedro Hernandez and so many other children in the community. These lawsuits have helped us understand why. The culture in this precinct is toxic. See how…