Across Southern Brooklyn, Diverse Stances On Stop & Frisk

The question of police-community relations is one that continues to pop up even post-mayoral race, during which candidates were so often asked their respective stances on the matter, and seems unlikely to fade into the background anytime soon.

There’s certainly a large spectrum of opinions on stop and frisk in our area alone, and Sheepshead Bites recently partnered with the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism’s NYCity News Service to more thoroughly illustrate attitudes towards the practice across Southern Brooklyn.

In interviews with residents of Canarsie, East Flatbush, Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Gravesend, Coney Island, Marine Park, Sheepshead Bay, and more, a broad range of feelings about stop and frisk were unveiled.

“I see with my own eyes where I live, how the cops get the black men, put them against the door, they just push them around, and he’s trying to calm down but they keep swinging at him,” Flatbush neighbor Elba Troche is quoted as saying. “And I see that with my own eyes on Church Avenue.”

The interactive map provided gives a fascinating view of takes on stop and frisk, many in longstanding conservative areas of Brooklyn. Reading the nuanced responses of our neighbors, what would you say if Sheepshead Bites asked you? What have you seen, like Elba, with your own eyes around the neighborhood?