Guardian UK: Occupy Wall Street puts spotlight on police stop-and-frisk tactics

[marmar]

Occupy Wall Street puts spotlight on police stop-and-frisk tactics
Protests over targeting of black and Hispanic men amid claims that NYPD commissioner says policy is used to 'instil fear'

Ryan Devereaux
guardian.co.uk, Monday 24 October 2011


The police officer wanted him to dance. "Do the chicken noodle soup for me," he said. The officer claimed it was the only way he'd let John Hector go.

It was supposed to be a joke, but Hector didn't find it funny. After all, he and his friend were handcuffed in full view of the public. The pair were driving to get some food when they were pulled over by the police, who then forced them to sit on the kerb with their hands bound. They were never arrested, let alone charged with a crime. That's because they hadn't committed one. They were simply caught in an NYPD stop-and-frisk operation.

Hector is 25 years old. He's a military veteran and preparing to go back to school. He's also a young man of colour living in New York City, and like millions of others who fall into his demographic, he's been involved in a police stop-and-frisk situation despite not being involved in a crime. It's a problem Hector claims he's dealt with since he was 15, and one he says is endemic in his Brooklyn neighborhood.

"It's embarrassing, humiliating. People think you're a criminal before they even know you," Hector says. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/24/occupy-wall-street-stop-frisk