NYPD cops in anti-gun units still making disproportionate number of illegal stops: report

Two special NYPD units formed at the start of the Adams administration to counter gun crime continue to make illegal stops of New Yorkers at a rate far above that of regular patrol cops, a new report by the city’s $40 million federal monitor concludes.

The report based on 2023 data by the court-appointed Independent Monitor of the NYPD found that the so-called Neighborhood Safety Teams and Public Safety Teams — about 1,000 officers in all — made legal stops only 64% and 75% of the time, respectively, compared to 92% by their colleagues in regular patrol units.

Meanwhile, despite evidence to the contrary, police supervisors found that just 1% of those stops were unconstitutional.

“We are not here to tell the Department how it should police, but we are here to tell the Department to conduct stops, frisks, and searches constitutionally,” writes lawyer Mylan Denerstein, who oversees the monitoring team.

“If supervisors and commands continue to fail to address unlawful stops, frisks, and searches and if they fail to address undocumented stops, then the Department must hold supervisors and commands accountable. If some commands can police lawfully, then the rest can do it too.”

More than 90% of the people stopped were Black or Hispanic, the study found. Cops in the two special units made a greater percentage of self-initiated stops than patrol, but those types of stops as opposed to a stop initiated by a 911 call were more likely to be unconstitutional, the report said.

The stop and frisk monitor was created as part of the landmark Floyd v. City of New York case in 2014 after the court found the NYPD had illegally stopped hundreds of thousands of Black and Hispanic New Yorkers in violation of their civil rights.

In the 10 years since, the monitorship has cost taxpayers $40 million through Monday, a city official said.

The sum includes $11 million in fees and expenses to the plaintiffs lawyers and more than $15 million to the monitoring team itself, the official said.

“From the very beginning of the stop, question and frisk case, police officers on the street have been saddled with most of the blame and punishment for a problem we didn’t create,” PBA President Patrick Hendry said. “The monitor should focus its attention on the NYPD’s management and supervisors, rather than the police officers who are carrying out their directives.”

A police official noted the data underlying the report issued Monday is itself dated. The NYPD began a new initiative in January 2024 dubbed ComplianceStat to more closely track stops.

In the meetings which were initially chaired by now-Chief of Department John Chell, stop and frisk reports and body-worn camera video is reviewed for legality. The findings then generate guidance to police officers.

“ComplianceStat is promising and we look forward to examining whether it has impacted compliance in the field,” the monitor report said.

On Jan. 30, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced a renewed focus on quality of life offenses which critics said could increase improper police stops. A Legal Aid Society lawyer called the initiative a “pretext to stop and harass New Yorkers who are going about their day.”

Plaintiffs attorneys Samah Sisay and Jonathan Moore called the findings “unacceptable.”

“If these specialized NYPD units cannot respect the rights of New Yorkers, despite additional training and supervision, they should be disbanded,” said Sisay, staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Donna Lieberman of the New York Civil Liberties Union laid responsibility at the feet of Mayor Adams and called for the units to be dismantled.

“Mayor Adams has essentially given these units carte blanche to harass and intimidate New Yorkers,” she said.

“As Trump is pushing to step up stop-and-frisk across the country, it is even more troubling that our city’s leadership is ignoring the hard lessons we should have learned over decades of use and abuse.”