NEW YORK (AP) — A lawyer in a class-action suit challenging the New York Police Department's stop and frisk policy that officers have been wrongly stopping tens of thousands of young men based solely on their race.

Darius Charney of the Center for Constitutional Rights says the policy is legal, but the department is doing stops illegally. He says changes must be ordered by a federal judge to ensure the department stops wrongly targeting black and Hispanic men.

The civil case began Monday. Charney says say the trial will include stories from a dozen black and Hispanic men who say they were targeted because of their race. Police officers and criminologists are also scheduled to testify.

The suit seeks a court-appointed monitor to oversee changes to how the police make stops.