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Michael Armstrong describes the1970-72 Knapp Commission investigation into police corruption, prompted by the New York Times' report on whistleblower cop Frank Serpico. In They Wished They Were Honest he examines how the commission affected the NYPD's public image, what leads to police corruption, and the toll it takes on society.  

Murray Weiss, DNAinfo columnist and criminal justice editor, talks about some of the skepticism greeting the confession in the Etan Patz case.

One in five people stopped last year by NYPD was a teenager between the ages of 14 and 18, according to a WNYC analysis of recently released police data. The data also strongly suggests that a teen male with dark skin in New York City will probably get stopped and frisked by the time he’s graduated from high school.

As the cash-strapped City Council scours the mayor’s proposed budget for wiggle room, a report shows the city spent $50.5 million more last fiscal year to settle claims against the NYPD than it did the year previous.

The average homicide victim is a young black man with a prior arrest who was likely shot dead in a revenge killing during the overnight hours in Brooklyn, according to an NYPD report released Friday.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended stop and frisk practices and said the NYPD will continue the practice that has faced increasing scrutiny.

Under increasing heat for the New York City police department’s stop-and-frisk practices, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly sent a letter to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn outlining changes, as WNYC first reported last week, to the policy. But law enforcement experts say Kelly’s changes do not go far enough.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly sent a letter to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn detailing the changes, as WNYC first reported last week. Quinn has been a vocal critic of the policy. Last year, more than 600,000 people were stopped, mostly black and Hispanic men.

A man accused of stabbing a New York City police officer in the head and nearly killing him may pursue an insanity defense.

A federal judge has granted class action status to a 2008 lawsuit accusing the NYPD of discriminating against blacks and Hispanics with its stop-and-frisk policies aimed at reducing crime. In the event a jury finds the NYPD is unlawfully making stops and racially profiling blacks and Latinos, class members will likely request oversight of the NYPD by a federal court monitor.

Law enforcers say luxury car owners in New York City were "stalked" by thieves who were filling orders for buyers in Africa.

Finding the city's attitude "deeply troubling," a judge granted class action status Wednesday to a 2008 lawsuit accusing the New York Police Department of discriminating against blacks and Hispanics with its stop-and-frisk policies aimed at reducing crime.

The city has settled a federal lawsuit that challenged the New York Police Department’s detaining, questioning and searching passengers for weapons in livery cabs as part of a city livery cab inspection program. 

The NYPD credited citywide declining homicide rates to its increasing reliance on the controversial practice of stop-and-frisk last week. But in the 13 precincts citywide where homicides were trending up so far this year, a WNYC analysis of the data found that an increase in stop-and-frisk in the first quarter of this year did not always result in fewer homicides so far this year.

Police say a man has died after being shot by officers who ordered him to drop a knife he'd used to stab himself and critically injure a woman.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg offered a spirited defense of the New York Police Department’s use of stop-and-frisk on Thursday, saying “stops are a deterrent.” It comes a day after an analysis of NYPD data by the NYCLU showed police targeted blacks and Latinos for stop-and-frisks.

Supervising officers in the New York City Police Department tell WNYC that, in recent weeks, all precinct commanders have been instructed by the highest levels of the department to carefully review stop-and-frisk reports to ensure they reflect proper stops, and are not an effort to meet productivity goals.

Police target blacks and Latinos when deciding to stop and frisk someone, according to an analysis of new NYPD data by the New York Civil Liberties Union released Wednesday.

A man accused of shoving a city police officer off a stoop to his death during a domestic violence arrest last year was convicted Wednesday of manslaughter.

The NYPD police officer who was stabbed in the temple with a switch blade in East Harlem was released from the hospital on Wednesday — facing a long road to recovery but saying he was "just happy to be alive."