Call to Investigate NYPD for Racial Profiling

Group wants Cuomo to investigate NYPD for racial profiling after stop-and-frisk numbers soar
The New York Daily News by Erin Einhorn - February 21, 2010

A black police group called on state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo Sunday to investigate racial profiling in the NYPD. "We believe the numbers justify his intervention," said Noel Leader, a founder of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, at a news conference in front of One Police Plaza in Manhattan. The group was responding to police data released last week that showed a record 575,304 people - 87% of them black or Latino - were stopped and questioned by city officers in 2009. Only 6% of those stopped were arrested. "This is a preposterous and a blatant form of racial profiling, which is a violation of [civil rights]," Leader said. "Police Commissioner Kelly's administration is one of the most abusive of this particular policy, and it's time that the New York State Attorney General step in." Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne defended the policy, which he said helped police recover 7,612 weapons in 2009. "Stops are a life-saving practice in neighborhoods experiencing the most crime, and responsible, in part, for the record low in murders recorded last year," he said. A spokeswoman for Cuomo said his office would review the data.