The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey just conducted its first study on stop-and-frisk in Newark, and while much is left to be learned, one thing seems clear: in terms of results, Newark cops are better at it than the NYPD.
In the city across the Hudson, about 25 percent of stops result in an arrest or summons — i.e., cops are right about a person’s wrongdoing a quarter of the time. That number may seem unimpressive, but it’s sterling compared to the cops’ record here in NYC, where only half that percentage of stops lead anywhere.
Still, civil liberties advocates believe Newark should rein in stop-and-frisk, just as New York is. “We have serious concerns regarding the high volume of stops, the racial disparity of who is getting stopped and the fact that 75 percent of stops targeted people who engaged in no wrongdoing,” Udi Ofer, executive director of the ACLU-NJ, adding that the numbers paint a “a troubling picture of stop and frisk in Newark.”
(Photo: @scsmith14/Flickr)
