Newark, New Jersey introduces transparent ‘stop and frisk’ policy as alternative to New York City’s | The Raw Story

Newark, New Jersey introduces transparent ‘stop and frisk’ policy as alternative to New York City’s | The Raw Story
JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:
Police in the city of Newark, New Jersey, have enacted new, highly transparent “stop and frisk” procedures that civil libertarians have called a model for the country and an alternative to the New York City policy rejected by a U.S. judge.
New Jersey’s largest city, about 10 miles west of New York City, will on Thursday begin reporting data collected from the first month of its “Police Transparency Policy,” disclosing the race, gender, age and English proficiency of everyone that Newark police officers stop and frisk.
“It really should serve as a model for the rest of the state and even the rest of the nation,” said Udi Ofer, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey.
The Center For Constitutional Rights and the New York Civil Liberties Union had sued New York City over its “stop and frisk” tactics, and a U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled on Monday that New York City had violated the constitutional rights of racial minorities who were unfairly targeted by the New York City Police Department.
Officers often frisked young minority men or searched their pockets for weapons or contraband before letting them go, in a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment that protects against unreasonable searches and seizures as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, which prohibits intentional discrimination based on race, the judge said in her 195-page decision.
The ruling was a stinging rebuke for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is entering the final months of his 12 years in office, and could trip up NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who President Barack Obama has indicated may be a possible nominee for U.S. secretary of homeland security.
Bloomberg has vowed to challenge the judge’s finding, arguing that “stop and frisk” contributed to the city’s dwindling crime rate, but the judge ruled the efficiency of program was irrelevant.
By contrast, the new “stop and frisk” procedures in Newark were being rolled out just as Newark Mayor Cory Booker seeks higher office in Tuesday’s special primary election to select a new U.S. senator for the state of New Jersey. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/13/newark-new-jersey-introduces-transparent-stop-and-frisk-policy-as-alternative-to-new-york-citys/