City Council grills NYPD on rise of stop and frisk

NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey and Michael Gerber, the deputy commissioner of Legal Matters at the police department, were grilled by councilmembers over the NYPD’s stop and frisk policies. Photo by Emil Cohen/NYC Council Media Unit

By Noah Powelson

NYPD leaders had few answers to questions from the City Council about the rise in police stops in recent years during a tense hearing on Monday.

The City Council Committee of Public Safety heard from top brass of the NYPD as well as representatives of the G.A.N.G.S. Coalition and the Legal Aid Society about the effectiveness of the How Many Stops Act, legislation that requires officers to report all investigative civilian interactions. The legislation was vetoed by the mayor shortly after it was passed, but the veto was overturned by the Council in a 42-9 vote and the law is now in effect.

The number of stops has grown steadily after the Adams administration came to power. In 2021, the year before Mayor Eric Adams was elected, there were around 9,000 stops. In 2022, that number rose to around 15,000. In 2023, a federal monitor tracking the unconstitutional practice found the NYPD had made around 17,000 stops.

“These stops are still disproportionately targeting people of color,” Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said on Monday.

The public advocate, who sponsored the How Many Stops Act, said that after the bill was enacted the NYPD’s stops continued.

“We still see the type of stops we are worried about,” Williams said.

The NYPD also faced accusations on Monday from the G.A.N.G.S. Coalition for their use of the Criminal Group Database. The database, which is available to all NYPD officers, is almost entirely made up of Black and Latino New Yorkers. The group claims such a database encourages officers to harass specific people or neighborhoods, and that it’s virtually impossible for a New Yorker to get their name removed from the list.

“Stops, frisks, and searches are all increasing. Moreover, the neighborhood safety teams, public safety teams and housing are the officers most likely to conduct self-initiated stops, unconstitutional stops and searches,” Babe Howell, a spokesperson for the Coalition, said.

City Council Member Diana Ayala said she was frustrated by the lack of clear answers as to why people of color face disproportionally higher police stops.

“The fact that the demographics are primarily made up of Black and brown people, it doesn’t look good,” Ayala said. “There has to be an explanation for that that makes sense to us as legislators so we’re better able to work with the NYPD.”

NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said the increased stops are due to rising crime rates in the city, particularly gun violence.

“If you look at the crime in ‘16, ’17, and ’18, crime was significantly lower,” Maddrey said. “We have been going up in crime, especially after COVID.”

Michael Gerber, the deputy commissioner of Legal Matters at the police department, said that while the NYPD did not support including level one stops in their reports, as required under the How Many Stops Act, they are complying with the new law. Gerber also said that officers are required to and regularly receive racial bias training, and called on councilmembers to consider the historical data, which shows stops are lower than they were in 2013.

“Looking at a two-to-three-year time frame, you have seen a significant increase, no question,” Gerber said. “Looking at it over a decade; you see an astronomical decrease.”

Advocates say that even level one stops, in which civilians are not under investigation and are allowed to leave an officer’s questions, can be traumatic experiences.

Samy Feliz of the Justice Committee, who said an NYPD officer killed his brother after an illegal stop, said he regularly experiences stops that makes him fear for his life. Feliz said last July, officers jumped out of their cars while he was walking to question him about his bag. The officers apparently said they believed a bulge in his bag, which turned out to be a hair brush, might have been a gun.

“I no longer carry that brush and I no longer carry that bag,” Feliz said.