The NYPD Tapes, Part 2, by Graham Rayman in the Village Voice. (And a link to my comments on Part 1)
Commentary:
“Oh, You Mean Those Quotas” by Radley Balko.
“Those Schoolcraft Tapes” by Leonard Levitt.
Update with working links to all the posts on Schoolcraft.
When I read this, especially the parts where they were sweeping streets and arresting for anything (and sometimes nothing) it got me thinking about the Arizona immigration law.
According to this story, in parts of NYC, failure to produce ID, riding a bike, or sitting on your front porch will result in you being searched and then arrested/detained.
In Arizona, once stopped for some 'lawful' reason (whatever that means) if the officer asks for ID and you dont provide it, you are arrested/detained and your ID and immigration status are verified.
It sounds much worse to be in NYC than Arizona. At the worst the Arizona law will be just as bad as this. And the Arizona law hasn't been implemented for long, this has been going on in NYC for a while now.
What is the level of outrage on these tapes up in NY? I haven't heard much about it in DC. And Obama, Holder and Napolitano havent denounced NYC as they have Arizona.
On a practical level I find the comparison absurd (nobody is being deported from their homes and families here). But on an intellectual level I find it very interesting.
The legal standard for being stopped in both NYC and Arizona is the same: reasonable suspicion. It's the stretching of what constitutes reasonable suspicion and the motivations for stopping that cause problems.
But in New York, to be arrested, you do actually have to commit a crime and, if it's a minor crime, not be able to prove your identity. The issue here is the massive number of stops and the massive number of low-level marijuana arrests.
Overall, I would say the level of outrage here is simmering but low. The tapes don't actually tell us anything new. Those who don't care still don't care. Those who do care already know this.