NYCLU Questions Frisky Cops

The [New York Civil Liberties Union] has filed a Freedom of Information Act request asking the NYPD to release its [stop-and-frisk records](http://www.amny.com/news/local/am-frisk0726,0,786278.story?coll=am-local-headlines)—data that the department has already refused to turn over to the City Council. Statistics released last year show that 508,540 people (an astounding half a million) were stopped in 2006 alone, five times the total in 2002. Seems like the police are keeping themselves awful busy. The statistics have also sparked concerns that [Blacks and Latinos are being stopped](http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_206210257.html) without cause: only 11 percent of individuals stopped were white, even though whites make up more than 40 percent of the city’s population.

But police say that they have provided more than 1,200 pages of data to the council and that there is nothing questionable about the numbers: “In terms of race, the data showed that stops were consistent proportionately with descriptions provided by victims of violent crime,” Paul J. Browne, a department spokesman said. The department has also [already hired RAND Corporation], a research and analysis firm think tank, to conduct an independent study of its stop-and-frisk practices, to be released shortly.

But the NYCLU and City Council are saying that [that isn’t good enough], and are trying to obtain the raw data to analyze themselves. “We have expressed our disappointment with the NYPD about their unsatisfactory response in providing the needed data,” Council Speaker Christine Quinn said yesterday. “If they continue to fail to provide the numbers, we will take the appropriate action and get the information we need to conduct the oversight that is mandated by the charter.” Sounds like Quinn is practicing some interrogation techniques of her own.