Winner, 2019 Outstanding Book Award, given by the American Society of Criminology’s Division of Policing Section The first in-depth history and analysis of a much-abused policing policy No policing tactic has been more controversial than “stop and frisk,” whereby police officers stop, question and frisk ordinary citizens, who they may view as potential suspects, on the streets. As Michael White and Hank Fradella show in Stop and Frisk, the first authoritative history and analysis of this tactic, there is a disconnect between our everyday understanding and the historical and legal foundations for this policing strategy. First ruled constitutional in 1968, stop and frisk would go on to become a central tactic of modern day policing, particularly by the New York City Police Department. By 2011 the NYPD recorded 685,000 ‘stop-question-and-frisk’ interactions with citizens; yet, in 2013, a landmark decision ruled that the police had over- and mis-used this tactic. Stop and Frisk tells the story of how and why this happened, and offers ways that police departments can better serve their citizens. They also offer a convincing argument that stop and frisk did not contribute as greatly to the drop in New York’s crime rates as many proponents, like former NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, have argued. While much of the book focuses on the NYPD’s use of stop and frisk, examples are also shown from police departments around the country, including Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, Newark and Detroit. White and Fradella argue that not only does stop and frisk have a legal place in 21st-century policing but also that it can be judiciously used to help deter crime in a way that respects the rights and needs of citizens. They also offer insight into the history of racial injustice that has all too often been a feature of American policing’s history and propose concrete strategies that every police department can follow to improve the way they police. A hard-hitting yet nuanced analysis, Stop and Frisk shows how the tactic can be a just act of policing and, in turn, shows how to police in the best interest of citizens.

Every law enforcement patrol officer and investigator needs to understand both the tactical considerations of stopping and frisking a suspect, and the legal constraints that should govern that power. Recent years have shown clearly the damage that can be done when police lack an adequate understanding of the legal foundation for their activities. In this new edition of Stop and Frisk, Mitchell and Connor team up to provide active or aspiring police officers with the knowledge of applicable law as well as practical techniques they need to safely and legally carry out their crime suppression and investigative duties. This updated edition includes clear summaries of major cases of the last decade and lessons learned when police and communities failed to fully understand the results of Terry v. Ohio. Ideal for in-service training at the post-academy level, this book also gives time-tested tools to police officers, supervisors, and legal advisors. Stop and Frisk can be used to teach undergraduate Criminal Justice majors as well as concerned citizens to prevent crime in their communities.

Cites successful examples of community-based policing.

Canvasses 3 different perspectives on "stop and frisk" (S&F) police activity in NY City. Provides the legal definition of, and constitutional parameters for S&F encounters. Considers S&F from the perspective of both the N.Y. City Police Dept. (NYPD) and minority communities that believe they have been most affected by the use of S&F. S&F is also examined as part of the NYPD's training regimen and from the point of view of officers who have used the technique. Provides an assessment of the S&F tactic from the perspective of persons who have been "stopped," and commentary from persons who have observed the tactic's secondary effects. Comprehensive!!

This book analyzes New York City’s stop-and-frisk data both pre- and post-constitutionality ruling, examining the existence of both profiling and unequal treatment among the three largest groups identified in the database: Blacks, Whites, and Hispanics. The purpose for using these two time periods is to determine which group(s) benefited the most from the ruling. This research goes beyond standard statistics to identify the place that race holds in contributing to the stop disparities. Specifically, this research will adds a spatial element to the numbers by analyzing the determinants of stop location by race, applying a principal component analysis to a mixture of census and stop-and-frisk data to determine the influence of location on stops by race. The results present a way of determining the plausibility of stops being the product of racial profiling–or just a matter of happenstance.

When Harvard-trained sociologist Peter Moskos left the classroom to become a cop in Baltimore's Eastern District, he was thrust deep into police culture and the ways of the street--the nerve-rattling patrols, the thriving drug corners, and a world of poverty and violence that outsiders never see. In Cop in the Hood, Moskos reveals the truths he learned on the midnight shift. Through Moskos's eyes, we see police academy graduates unprepared for the realities of the street, success measured by number of arrests, and the ultimate failure of the war on drugs. In addition to telling an explosive insider's story of what it is really like to be a police officer, he makes a passionate argument for drug legalization as the only realistic way to end drug violence--and let cops once again protect and serve. In a new afterword, Moskos describes the many benefits of foot patrol--or, as he calls it, "policing green."

If you've dreamed of walking free of sexual harassment, you will understand why it's time to end stop-and-frisk policing.

From the Pulitzer Prize–nominated reporter, an “account of a modern-day Serpico’s battle with an all-powerful police department . . . somber and inspiring” (Publishers Weekly). In May 2010, NYPD officer Adrian Schoolcraft made national headlines when he released a series of secretly recorded audio tapes exposing corruption and abuse at the highest levels of the police department. But, according to a lawsuit filed by Schoolcraft against the City of New York, instead of admitting mistakes and pledging reform Schoolcraft’s superiors forced him into a mental hospital in an effort to discredit the evidence. In The NYPD Tapes, the reporter who first broke the Schoolcraft story brings his ongoing saga up to date, revealing the rampant abuses that continue in the NYPD today, including warrantless surveillance and systemic harassment. Through this lens, he tells the broader tale of how American law enforcement has for the past thirty years been distorted by a ruthless quest for numbers, in the form of CompStat, the vaunted data-driven accountability system first championed by New York police chief William Bratton and since implemented in police departments across the country. Forced to produce certain crime stats each quarter or face discipline, cops in New York and everywhere else fudged the numbers, robbing actual crime victims of justice and sweeping countless innocents into the police net. Rayman paints a terrifying picture of a system gone wild, and the pitiless fate of the whistleblower who tried to stop it. “A tale of crime prevention turned upside down in the Bloomberg era. Rayman has invented a new genre: the police misprocedural.” —Tom Robbins, New York Times–bestselling author

Police departments across the country are busily "reinventing" themselves, adopting a new style known as "community policing". This approach to policing involves organizational decentralization, new channels of communication with the public, a commitment to responding to what the community thinks their priorities ought to be, and the adoption of a broad problem-solving approach to neighborhood issues. Police departments that succeed in adopting this new stance have an entirely different relationship to the public that they serve. Chicago made the transition, embarking on what is now the nation's largest and most impressive community policing program. This book, the first to examine such a project, looks in depth at all aspects of the program--why it was adopted, how it was adopted, and how well it has worked.