“There are other just as nefarious, just as racially-biased practices that have filled the void. Unless you’re really going to start at the roots of the problem, you’re going to end up in the same place,” said Ann Mathews, managing director of the criminal defense practice for The Bronx Defenders, a city public defenders office….
Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, another opponent of stop and frisk, said that internal police shifts were not convincing evidence Bloomberg had truly had an epiphany, especially given that he kept fighting Scheindlin’s ruling and impeding efforts at policy reform. (Some of Bloomberg’s criticism of Scheindlin was validated by an appeals court that removed her from the case,…
“The temperature in the city at the time was that the police were at war with Black and brown people on the streets,” Jenn Rolnick-Borchetta, the director of impact litigation at the Bronx Defenders, told the New York Times. “And that is how people experienced it.” Statistics show that Black and Latino people were nine times…
“However, based on recent data, the number of stops multiplied increasingly, in 2011 and ended up reaching more than 600,000 instances. In 2013 it reached 191,851. During his three terms as a mayor of New York City, the number of stops based on the records of the police reached an approximate 5,081,689. According to the…
“After taking office in 2002, Mr. Bloomberg oversaw a dramatic expansion in the use of stop-and-frisk. The number of stops multiplied sevenfold, peaking with 685,724 in 2011 and then tumbling to 191,851 in 2013. During Mr. Bloomberg’s three terms, the police recorded 5,081,689 stops. “The temperature in the city at the time was that the…
A court had ordered NYPD to begin documenting low-level investigative police-citizen encounters as part of a pilot program. We cannot ensure stop and frisk ends without turning a spotlight on NYPD activity that has long been in the darkness. “Very often, officers are responding to instances where things are not so clear,” said Jenn Rolnick…
“Most people think we won the stop-and-frisk case in 2013, when a federal court ruled the New York City Police Department’s use of the practice was unconstitutional. But ultimate victory depends on whether we reform the police practices that drove unlawful stops and arrests.” Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, Deputy Director of our Impact Litigation Practice, along…
“We’re talking about stops and frisks and arrests in the sanctity of people’s homes that have had an incredible human toll on the relationship between the community and the police,” said Johanna Steinberg, director of the Impact Litigation Practice at The Bronx Defenders, which was also part of the lawsuit. “This will create accountability and…
Law360, New York (November 03, 2014, 2:56 PM ET) — The Second Circuit on Friday affirmed a district court decision denying a bid by New York City police unions to intervene in two class actions challenging the city’s stop-and-frisk policy, saying the motions were untimely and that the unions’ interests were too remote to warrant…
In the new, gentrified post-9/11 New York City, gone are the days when a visitor’s trip to Times Square might include aggressive panhandling, a mugging or an uncomfortable exchange with a prostitute. But gone, too, are $900 apartments in the East Village, Soho artists lofts that artists can actually afford and $150-a-night hotel rooms that…
A motion to resolve two cases that accuse the New York City Police Department of unconstitutional stop-and-frisk practices was filed Thursday in the New York City-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the proposed settlement at a Thursday press conference. According to a statement from his office, the city and…
Most people in the south Bronx have an opinion on the NYPD’s stop and frisk tactic. In the face of mounting public and legal pressure, officers have more than halved the use of it city-wide, from over 500,000 instances in 2012 to nearly 200,000 in 2013. But this part of New York, just north of…
Watch Molly Kovel, Civil Action Practice Attorney, discuss Stop & Frisk on “Today’s Verdict”. “Today’s Verdict” is a live, half-hour television talk show that provides you with the answers to all your important questions and concerns. Hosted by David Lesch, a Bronx Native and an outstanding trial attorney. See the video here.
Jahlanni Greene, 17, is a happy high school student. Aki Ferguson, 25, is a butcher. Jason Stewart, 32, is a maintenance worker. All three lead different lives and are different ages, but they are all black men, they all live in Hunts Point and they have all been stopped and frisked by the officers of…
U.S. Disctrict Court Judge Shira Scheindlin handed down two landmark opinions on Monday. In Floyd v. City of New York, a federal class action lawsuit challenging racial profiling by the NYPD, Judge Scheindlin ruled that the NYPD’s stop and frisk program violates the Constitution. A second order laying out remedies covers both Floyd and part…
A special Bronx Defenders project—in which a Wall Street law firm was lined up to help those accused of misdemeanors after arrests resulting from questionable stop-and-frisk tactics by police—has reached a grim conclusion. Contrary to what the U.S. Constitution and New York state law requires, there is effectively no right to trial or meaningful court…
In New York City, marijuana is the most common reason for arrest, even though only possession of marijuana in public view is a crime. A dramatic spike in these arrests has accompanied the rise of the New York Police Department’s controversial stop and frisk tactic, and an equally controversial reported tactic of considering the marijuana…
Julio Pabon, Candidate for City Council South Bronx, NY This last Thursday, April 18, 2013, I attended a Bronx Town Hall Meeting on Community Safety & NYPD Accountability. The event was held at the Vacamas Glow Classic Center located at 286 East 156th St., located in the heart of the Melrose projects in the South…
Gbenga Akinnagbe from ‘The Wire’ joins HuffPost Live to talk about his recent court victory, challenging stop & frisk policies and intolerance for free speech. Hosted by: Alicia Menendez Guests: Gbenga Akinnagbe @GbengaAkinnagbe (New York, NY) Actor Matt Sledge @MGSledge (New York , NY) HuffPost National Reporter Alejandro Fernandez @BronxDefenders (New York, NY) Staff Attorney…
A federal judge has ruled that New York City police are not allowed to routinely stop pedestrians outside of private residential buildings in the Bronx. The stops are part of the so-called Clean Halls program, which has prompted allegations of police harassment by some residents who say they are being accosted outside of the buildings…
Watch Bronx Defenders Staff Attorney Molly Kovel discuss the recent court ruling. MELROSE – The attorneys who sponsored a lawsuit against the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy are supporting their claims today after a federal judge ruled the program must come to an end in certain buildings. The attorneys are representing 13 Bronx residents involved in the…
A federal judge has dealt a significant blow to the New York police department’s controversial stop-and-frisk policy, declaring that officers had “systematically” engaged in unconstitutional activity by searching residents outside thousands of private apartments in the city. Manhattan federal court judge Shira Scheindlin said the NYPD must immediately halt the practice of conducting trespass stops…
The Bronx District Attorney’s office became the first in the city to openly question the validity of some stop-and-frisk arrests, by requiring police officers to verify each one in person before charges are rendered. In the past, arresting police officers had to fill out a sworn statement and routine paperwork. Now, officers will now also…
On our ‘Clean Halls’ class action lawsuit with co-counsel NYCLU and LatinoJustice PRLDEF – The Bloomberg administration and its police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, have been disturbingly dismissive of complaints about the city’s program of stops, frisks and arrests that is ensnaring hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers each year. Civil rights lawsuits may now force…
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the New York Police Department to immediately stop conducting trespass stops outside certain residential buildings in the borough of the Bronx without “reasonable suspicion” that an individual is engaged in criminal activity. U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin issued her ruling in the narrowest of three main lawsuits challenging New…