About a thousand Latino and African-American residents of New York marched over the Brooklyn Bridge Wednesday to protest the police department’s controversial “stop and frisk” policy, reports the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. They chanted, “N-Y-P-D/Keep your hands off me.” Minorities are nine times as likely as whites to be stopped and frisked by the NYPD, studies have shown, even though they are no more likely to be arrested.
“Stop-and-frisk is a flawed policy that has disproportionately affected immigrant and minority communities,” said City Councilmember Letitia James. “The NYPD should ensure that their protocols build a climate of trust with young black and Latino New Yorkers, and make it a point to work with young people and immigrant communities to directly address their experiences during police interactions.” According to the Center for Constitutional Rights, a record 576,394 people were stopped by the NYPD in 2009, and 84 percent of them were black or Latino, although they comprise only about 26 percent and 27 percent, respectively, of New York City's total population.