Anti-stop and frisk protesters outside Manhattan Court on April 30, 2012.
(Stephen Nessen/WNYC)
More than 300 New Yorkers showed up to express their feelings on the controversial police tactic of stop-and-frisk at a City Council Civil Rights Committee hearing Tuesday night.
The committee heard passionate first hand testimony about what it's like to be stopped by the police, and many said the fear of being stopped and possibly arrested is persistent.
East New York resident Romale Johnson, 21, said he's been stopped and frisked about 20 times in the last five years.
The next hearing is scheduled for Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the New York College Performing Arts Center in Jamaica, Queens.
Kathleen Horan is a staff reporter for New York Public Radio, covering the criminal justice beat. She also reports the series In Harm’s Way, a multi-platform effort to profile the life of every child in New York City killed by gunfire.
Comments [1]
Often overlooked data that should drive our conversation includes the number of crimes that can be identified as occurring within NYCHA properties. While 20% of all NYC crime is traceable to NYCHA developments, only about 5% of the entire NYC population lives within them. Assigning blame should never be the focus. Instead, a full and frank discussion should ensue about how law enforcement tools and techniques can he harnessed to renewed community participation, to ameliorate these badly slewed statistics.
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