State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman Is Looking into the NYPD’s Stop and Frisk Policy

True to his word, State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is putting the NYPD’s controversial stop-and-frisk tactic in his cross hairs.

Schneiderman’s investigators are reviewing NYPD stop-and-frisk data and weighing whether to issue a formal report — setting up a potential battle with Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Mayor Bloomberg, the Daily News has learned.

Documents obtained by The News show Schneiderman has met at least twice in recent months with top staff to discuss the NYPD program, which reached a record high 685,724 stops in 2011 and has led to criticism of racial bias.

Schneiderman pledged in his 2010 campaign for attorney general to crack down on “unjustified stop-and-frisk practices.”

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NYPD spokesman Paul Browne also declined to comment, but police brass have long argued stop-and-frisk is an important crime-fighting tool.

Kelly spoke about the program in general at an unrelated event Tuesday, defending it as a “life-saving tactic.” He noted there have been 51% fewer murders in the past 10 years than in the prior decade.

“We know what we’re doing is saving lives,” Kelly declared.

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BY THE NUMBERS

In 2011: 685,724 people stopped by the NYPD*

53% (350,743 people) were black

34% (223,740 people) were Latino

9% (61,805 people) were white

88% (605,328 people) were not arrested or given a summons

819 guns recovered

In 2003: 160,851 people stopped by the NYPD

54% (77,704 people) were black

31% (44,581 people) were Latino

12% (17,623 people) were white

87% (140,442 people) were not arrested or given a summons

*RECORD HIGH

source: NYCLU