by Michael Fiscaletti, staff reporter
Stop and Frisk is a policy in the U.S.A which allows police officers to stop, question, and frisk citizens for potential illegal contraband, unregistered weapons, etc. The general purpose of this is so police can easily isolate and check on people who may be a threat to the safety of other citizens and/or officers.
There are two strong positions on whether or not Stop and Frisk is appropriate in the country: pro-stop and frisk, and anti-stop and frisk. For those who believe that stop and frisk is okay, they are supportive of allowing police to search people. Those who are anti-stop and frisk do not believe it is appropriate, deem it as unnecessary, or find it to be a violation of the public’s natural rights.
“I feel like that the police take advantage of what they can do, but it is necessary at some points in time. They need to do stop and frisk because sometimes some people may get away with things that they shouldn’t,” junior Terrell Jones said.
The point of stop and frisk is to prevent a crime from happening. To remove the danger, before there is a danger. By manually checking to insure that there are no suspicious people carrying lethal weaponry, harmful substances, or other threats to civilian lives, police may be able to save lives.
“I just don’t trust the police. Nowadays they have too much power and, for me, living around areas -like the ’projects,’ it’s hard for us to have a certain relation with them because they put us all in the same circle,” junior Yareth Daniel said.
Statistics-wise, the Stop and Frisk policy is rather unsuccessful. According to the NYPD’s own reports, almost nine out of ten people who are stopped and frisked are innocent, or carry no threats or illegal possessions on their person. It’s one of the chief reasons behind many civilian’s outrage; being called unacceptable, and, as stated earlier, accused as racial profiling.
It’s understandable that being stopped and searched by an officer, for what appears to be no reason at all, may be frustrating. Nine out of ten is a pretty bad track record, but if for every ten frisks, one person is carrying a weapon, or illegal/deadly substances, or a bomb, then perhaps the citizens of New York State may believe that it’s worth it.
