The NYPD is under fire, once again, for over-aggressive police tactics due to its “stop-and-frisk” procedure. On June 3, 2011 a 17-year-old boy named Alvin was walking home from his girlfriend’s house when he suspected that police were following him, causing him to become paranoid. Eventually, police stopped him but gave no legally valid reason why. Alvin recording the whole interaction on his phone via a Stop-and-Frisk app.
The two-minute recording captures racially charged language used by officers, who also threaten Alvin with violence. Early in the stop, one of the officers asks, “You want me to smack you?” When Alvin asks why he is being threatened with arrest, the other officer responds, “For being a fucking mutt.” Later in the stop an officer threatens to break his “fuckin’ arm” and then to “punch him in the fuckin’ face” while holding the kid’s arm behind his back.
Alvin’s treatment by the cops isn’t uncommon. NYPD’s stop-and-frisk data reports to stopping more than 1,800 New Yorkers a day. A New York Times analysis recently discovered that more 20 percent of those stops involve the use of force. These are only counting incidents that get recorded.
Watch Alvin’s story below where, even former officers have anonymously shared their testimonies about how they were encouraged to harass people while in the police force.
Click here for more information on how you can download the Stop-and-Frisk app.
