The Facts About Stop And Frisk

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  In 2011, NYPD officers conducted 685,724 street stops, a more than 600 percent increase since Mayor Bloomberg’s first year in office when officers conducted 97,000 stops. More than 4 million people have been stopped under this administration.
• The massive spike in street interrogations has done little to remove firearms from the streets, the ostensible reason behind the stop- and-frisk regime. Instead, the wholesale violation of civil rights has sown mistrust between police officers and the communities they are supposed to protect.
• Nine out of 10 people stopped are totally innocent, meaning they are neither arrested nor ticketed.
• No gun is retrieved in 99.9 percent of stops.
• The proportion of gun seizures to stops has fallen sharply — only 780 guns were confiscated last year, not much more than the 604 guns seized in 2003, when officers made 160,851 stops.
• Though they account for only percent of the city’s population, black and Latino males between the ages of 14-24 accounted for percent 4.7% of population, and 41.6% of the stops in 2011. The number of stops of young black men exceeded the entire city population of young black men.

The Silent March To End Stop And Frisk

Join Civil Rights, Faith, Labor and Community groups in a silent march against NYC’s “Stop and Frisk” Policy! On Father’s Day, let’s stand together to show that New Yorkers refuse to let our children be victimized by racial profiling.

Father's Day
Sunday, June 17th - march begins at 3 pm

Assemble on West 110th St. between Central Park West/8th Ave. and Fifth Ave.

• Enter the assembly area from the west or from the north, NOT from the east!
• You can begin gathering as early as 1pm, but remember - the march starts at 3 pm!
• Closest subway stops: Cathedral Parkway (110 St) on the B and C trains, Central Park North (110 St.) on the 2 and 3 trains.
• Please check subway schedules for any changes.
• Contingents are being assigned locations within the assembly area. Please check back here in a few days for details.

March route

• The march begins at 110th St. and Fifth Ave.
• We will march south on Fifth Ave. to 78th Street.
• Mayor Bloomberg's mansion is on 79th St., just east of Fifth Ave.

REMINDER: this will be a silent march for the entire route!

What to Bring

• Wear comfortable walking shoes.
• Put on sun screen and/or wear a hat, especially if it is a sunny day.
• Carry a bottle of water.
• Posters, signs, banners - but remember that you cannot use wooden or metal sticks!

What Not to Bring

• Do not bring any noise makers or musical instruments!

In contrast to previous demonstrations, we will march in silence as an illustration of both the tragedy and serious threat that stop and frisk and other forms of racial profiling present to our society. The silent march was first used in 1917 by the NAACP—then just eight years old—to draw attention to race riots that tore through communities in East St. Louis, Illinois, and build national opposition to lynching.

Now, 95 years later, you can join us in powerful protest to help end this great injustice and begin rebuilding national opposition to racial profiling.

If you're outraged that police, security guards and even community watch volunteers in so many neighborhoods continue to treat young people of color differently, or if you're concerned for your children, or your neighbors' and friends' children, then channel these emotions into action by joining thousands in calling for an end to racial profiling and the abuse of New York's stop and frisk laws.

Silence is a powerful force that, like other forms of non-violent protest, holds a mirror to the brutality of one's opponents. On June 17, we will hold up a mirror to New York City's stop-and-frisk policy. It is not only discriminatory, it actively seeks to humiliate innocent citizens—particularly African American and Latino men—and criminalize otherwise legal behavior.

Sharpton arrested as hundreds protest NYC police shooting

By TOM HAYS and DAVID B. CARUSO Associated Press Writers

NEW YORK — The Rev. Al Sharpton was arrested at the Brooklyn Bridge on Wednesday as he and hundreds of demonstrators blocked traffic to protest the acquittal of three detectives in the 50-bullet shooting of an unarmed black man on his wedding day.

Sharpton, two survivors of the shooting and the slain man's fiancee were among about a dozen people arrested on disorderly conduct charges near the base of the bridge. Police led away demonstrators at several other bridges and tunnels in the city.

The protests were part of a coordinated campaign to urge federal authorities to investigate the November 2006 shooting of Sean Bell. Three officers were acquitted of state charges last month.

READ FULL STORY....

REV. AL SHARPTON TO LEAD NYC 'SLOWDOWN' AND 'PRAY IN' TODAY: Effort to lead up to citywide shut down later this spring.

New York, NY - Reverend Al Sharpton, President of National Action Network, will lead a citywide "pray-in" on Wednesday, May, 7th at six locations around New York City to lead up to an eventual citywide shut down this Spring.

Joining Rev. Sharpton in civil disobedience will be Nicole Paultre Bell, Joseph Guzman, Trent Benefield and other community and religious leaders to call upon the United States Department of Justice to intervene in the case.

According to Rev. Sharpton, participants in Wednesday's "pray-ins" at six locations across the city should be prepared to go to jail to protest the acquittals of the three detectives.

"If you are not going to lock up the guilty in this town, then I guess you'll have to lock up the innocent," says Rev. Sharpton.

READ MORE....

'Pray-In' Planned to Protest Bell Verdict

By: Verena Dobnik, Associated Press

NEW YORK - (AP) Demonstrators plan to pray on their knees and be arrested for civil disobedience to protest the acquittals of three police officers in the death of an unarmed man shot on his wedding day, the Rev. Al Sharpton said Saturday.

The civil rights activist, who has promised to "close this city down" to protest last month's verdict, said protesters would stage a "pray-in" Wednesday at half a dozen places in the city, including the police headquarters.

Hundreds of angry people marched through Harlem a day after the officers were cleared in the November 2006 death of Sean Bell, 23. Two friends were wounded in the barrage of 50 shots fired by the undercover officers and two colleagues outside a night club where Bell had just left his bachelor party.

Sean Bell was black. His death rekindled long-standing tensions over alleged racism and excessive force by police, even though two of the officers charged are also black.

Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell -- who took his name after his death -- plans to participate in Wednesday's protest and any other action "till justice is done," she told several hundred people gathered at Sharpton's National Action Network headquarters in Harlem, the historically black Manhattan neighborhood.

Sharpton said participants would gather at 3 p.m. in at least six places around the city and then fan out to undisclosed locations.

"Where we go from there is anybody's guess," Rachel Noerdlinger, Sharpton's spokeswoman, said later, adding that wherever protesters end up, "they'll be arrested praying."

The "pray-in" is only the start of whatever actions are necessary to oppose the verdict.

"It's going to be a long struggle, but the race isn't given to the swift or the strong, but to those who endure," Sharpton said.

NY police cleared in 50-bullet wedding day shooting

By Edith Honan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three New York City detectives were found not guilty on Friday in the shooting death of an unarmed black man killed in a hail of 50 bullets on his wedding day, prompting angry reactions and a federal review of the case.

A New York state judge cleared two police officers of manslaughter and other charges and a third of reckless endangerment in the death of Sean Bell, 23. Bell was shot, along with two friends, after a bachelor party at a strip club in November 2006.

But federal authorities said they would consider civil rights charges in the case in a review to be conducted by the Justice Department, federal prosecutors and the FBI.

They will "take appropriate action if the evidence indicates a prosecutable violation of federal criminal civil rights statutes," the Justice Department said in a statement.

After the verdict, hundreds of demonstrators yelled angrily, and there was pushing and shoving in the crowd as police, reporters and spectators packed the sidewalk.

Civil rights leader Al Sharpton, who has been highly critical of police and is influential in New York's black community, called for wider protests.

"They want us to act crazy so they would have an excuse to do more," Sharpton told the audience of his radio show. "We are going to be strategic. We are going to close the city down in a nonviolent effective way."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg called for calm after the verdict, saying, "We don't expect violence or law-breaking, nor is there any place for it."

The case had generated outrage in New York's black community, though police said they did not expect violence because numerous demonstrations against the perceived police brutality had remained peaceful.

"It shows that there is no justice in America for the black man. This is telling us the cops can do whatever they want and get away with it," said B.M. Marcus, a community organizer.

APOLOGY

The acquitted officers gave brief statements thanking their friends and family.

"I'd like to say sorry to the Bell family for the tragedy," said detective Marc Cooper, who had been charged only with reckless endangerment.

The other two detectives, Gescard Isnora and Mike Oliver, were charged with manslaughter.

All three defendants waived their right to a jury trial and decided to have the judge decide guilt or innocence. The defense lawyers said jurors in the borough of Queens were likely to be biased against the policemen due to the intense media coverage generated by the case.

State Supreme Court Judge Arthur Cooperman said the charges could not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, noting that some prosecution witnesses contradicted themselves from prior statements and may have had motivation to lie.

"At times the testimony just didn't make sense," Cooperman said.

After the verdict, loud sobs were heard in the courtroom.

The judge gave credibility to the detectives' statements that they believed they were in danger but also offered, "Questions of carelessness and incompetence must be left to other forums."

The eight-week trial centered on whether the detectives had reason to believe they faced imminent danger and whether they made it clear to Bell and the two survivors that they were police officers.

On the night of the shooting, Isnora, the undercover officer who fired first, followed Bell and his two friends to Bell's car believing they went to fetch a gun to settle a dispute at the club. He opened fire after being grazed by Bell's car as Bell attempted to drive away.

The other officers reached Bell's car after the initial confrontation and said they believed Isnora was being fired at from inside the vehicle.

(Reporting by Edith Honan; Editing by Jackie Frank)