Within the last hour, a federal judge has ruled that the NYPD's controversial "stop-and-frisk" policy violates the Fourth Amendment. The judge went further, and placed the department under federal court supervision.
n a decision issued on Monday, the judge, Shira A. Scheindlin, ruled that police officers have for years been systematically stopping innocent people in the street without any objective reason to suspect them of wrongdoing. Officers often frisked these people, usually young minority men, for weapons or searched their pockets for contraband, like drugs, before letting them go, according to the 195-page decision.
These stop-and-frisk episodes, which soared in number over the last decade as crime continued to decline, demonstrated a widespread disregard for the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures by the government, according to the ruling. It also found violations with the 14th Amendment.
To fix the constitutional violations, Judge Scheindlin of Federal District Court in Manhattan said she intended to designate an outside lawyer, Peter L. Zimroth, to monitor the Police Department’s compliance with the Constitution.
The decision to install Mr. Zimroth, a partner in the New York office of Arnold & Porter, LLP, and a former corporation counsel and prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, will leave the department under a degree of judicial control that is certain to shape the policing strategies under the next mayor.
Scheindlin ruled that the NYPD frequently overstepped its authority to stop and investigate people acting suspiciously. In her view, the NYPD all too often stopped people for behavior that was completely innocent. The kicker for her was that 88 percent of those stopped were allowed to go free without even a ticket--an unacceptably high rate.
This story is still very much developing--hoping to have a look at the ruling soon.
6:57 AM PT: Via Adam B in the comments, you can read the ruling here and the remedy here.
2:17 PM PT: After reading the ruling, a clarification is needed ... Scheindlin didn't order an end to the stop-and-frisk program altogether. However, by ruling that the way it is currently implemented violates the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, it's safe to say that her ruling, combined with the decision to place the NYPD under court supervision, spells finis to the policy as previously implemented.