Federal Monitor Says NYPD Stops and Disparities Gave Decreased

From [HERE] The number of reported street stops by New York City police officers has plunged and the racial disparity in stops may be narrowing, according to a new analysis by a federal monitor covered in The New York Times. Undertaken as part of a federal court order, the analysis shows that stops decreased from a peak of 685,724 in 2011 to a low of 22,563 in 2015. Focusing on the 2013-2015 period, the report notes, “the steep decline in stops … did disproportionately affect Blacks and Hispanics because they were the subject of the vast majority of stops.”

A multivariate regression model accounting for persistent racial disparities in stops revealed that the racial composition of neighborhoods still influenced stop rates. But another approach, which compared stop rates per reported crime on census blocks for different racial groups, found a reduction in stop disparities.

The report also found overall improvement in disparities in stop outcomes—such as the rate of frisks and use of force—and in hit rates—the rate at which a frisk or search identified a weapon or other contraband. But in 2015, Hispanics were more likely than non-Hispanics to be searched and arrested after stops and blacks were less likely to be found with weapons after being frisked compared to “Non-Hispanic Others” (Whites, Asians, and Native Americans).