New York Attorney General Letitia Jones has announced an investigation into the New York Police Department (NYPD) for alleged discrimination against people of color, targeting them for subway fare evasion. The investigation comes after several videos spread on social media showing NYPD officers engaging in aggressive tactics to arrest turnstile jumpers, sparking public outrage. The NYPD, for its part, denies any wrongdoing, stating it is merely attempting to protect New Yorkers, regardless of their race.
The NYPD has long been dogged by claims that it engages in discriminatory behavior against people of color, which has in turn resulted in numerous lawsuits over their policing policies. For example, in the 2013 decision Floyd v. City of New York, the NYPD was found to have engaged in racially discriminatory behavior through its “stop and frisk” program. They searched people of color on a regular basis, even when they did not meet the constitutional minimum standard of “reasonable suspicion” needed to legally justify a stop and frisk, resulting in systemic Fourth Amendment violations. As a result of the disproportionate use of stop and frisks against black and Hispanic residents, the policy itself was determined to be in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The announcement of the investigation into potential discrimination by the NYPD follows a New York Times report from December 9, 2019, that six current and former NYPD officers signed sworn statements saying a commander urged them to specifically go after black and Latino people for crimes such as subway fare evasion. Combined with videos on social media showing police aggressively going after people of color for relatively minor crimes, and there has been a growing outcry to examine if the NYPD is once again engaging in discriminatory behavior. The investigation seeks to determine whether there was, in fact, discriminatory behavior by the NYPD, and if so, whether it may have been encouraged or promoted by those in positions of authority.
If you or someone you know has been arrested for a criminal offense, or if you were the victim of discrimination by the police, you will need legal counsel to help you preserve your rights and work to get the best possible outcome for your matter. A New York criminal defense lawyer, who is experienced in handling criminal cases of all sorts, can advise you of your legal rights and will fight for your best interests in court. If you or your loved one has been arrested, contact the Suffolk County criminal defense attorneys at McGuire, Peláez and Bennett at (631) 348-1702.
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