This ruling is six years in the making, stemming from a 2008 case (Floyd v New York) challenging the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk program enforced by then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals granted the city’s request to withdraw its appeal in Floyd v New York, a 2008 case challenging the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk program as implemented under then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg. The federal judge in the case ruled stop-and-frisk unconstitutional in August 2013, finding the NYPD liable for stopping innocent citizens — mainly young black and brown people — in the streets essentially because of their race. Bloomberg’s administration appealed the ruling, but new mayor Bill De Blasio and his staff agreed to drop the case in January while seeking reforms for NYPD behavior.
The Bloomberg administration had no interest in 'reforms' at all.
The story was written by Andrew Jones over @ The Intercept
New York’s police unions pushed back, trying to continue the appeal, but the Second Circuit today denied their request and lifted a hold on stop-and-frisk program reforms put in place in October 2013.
“Today’s ruling confirms the unions cannot claim they are harmed by court orders simply requiring them to comply with the Constitution,” said Baher Azmy, legal director for one of the plaintiffs in the case, the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights. “Now, after the unions’ unnecessary obstructionism, all New Yorkers can work together to racially discriminatory policing and bring meaningful reform and accountability to the NYPD.”
Nearly ninety-percent of the more than five million people stopped by the NYPD between 2002 and mid-2014 were ultimately found
completely innocent of any charges. Of those stopped last year, Blacks and Latinos made up a full 85 percent. The De Blasio administration is to be commended for their action on this issue.
However, it's important to note here that even though this ruling is an important step forward in seeking both racial equality and social justice in general in the Big Apple, the De Blasio administration is still defending police surveillance of Muslim communities in the city that were enforced during the Bloomberg years.
De Blasio still has a lot of work to do.
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