Blacks and Latinos Make Up About 80% Stopped and Questioned by NYPD, Study Finds

The NYPD is on pace to stop and question a record half a million citizens this year–about 80% of them black or Latino, a new report says.

The Center for Constitutional Rights, citing NYPD data obtained in a suit, said the vast majority of those stopped and questioned in 2005 through June 2008 weren’t charged with any crime.

In 2007, for instance, the last complete year of data, cops arrested only 5.8% of the 472,096 people they stopped (27,632).

“The New York City Police Department continues to prey on African-American and Latino communities in New York City,” Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said.

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Commissioner Paul Browne, the NYPD’s chief spokesman, said the number of minorities who were singled out under the policy is consistent with overall descriptions by race provided by victims and surviving witnesses of crime.

He pointed to a RAND Corp. study that found no racial profiling in its examination, “and warned against the kind of simplistic comparisons made by the center.”

“Their assertions do not constitute a study of the data, but a restatement of accusations in its lawsuit,” he added.

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