“Respect Goes Both Ways” Stop & Frisk Forum In East Flatbush Helps Neighbors & NYPD Relate

Judges, NYPD, pols, and activists landed in East Flatbush last week to learn how residents feel about the NYPD’s use of ‘stop & frisk’ and how to improve police-community relationships in a predominantly African American neighborhood.

The forum was led by the NYC Joint Remedial Process (JRP), a court-mandated judicial NYPD monitor for the NYPD’s use of stop & frisk and trespass arrest practices. JRP is conducting forums in NYC neighborhoods most affected by ‘stop & frisk’ including East Flatbush, Harlem, and Far Rockaway, culminating in a report to inform police reforms. Local non-profit East Flatbush Village, Inc. also facilitated the evening.

“Regardless of the indignation people may have, many say that police officers are human beings and we need them in our community,” said a facilitator, who wished to remain anonymous. She said that a common thread running through many of these forums is respect, “but that’s not what you hear out there in the media — where they hear the people are angry and hate you,” she said.

The JRP monitor was started in response to the 2013 Federal District Court ruling that the NYPD used unconstitutional stop & frisk practices — stopping people without reasonable suspicion and discriminating based on race.

So far, 78.1 percent of participants in more than 40 focus groups have identified themselves as Black and Hispanic — not surprising, given the statistical evidence for racial bias for stops.

“In 2011, there were 685,000 stops in NYC — 95 percent of those were persons of color and only 5 percent resulted in arrests,” said Justice Ariel Belen, who was on hand gathering data for the report.

Police have a right to stop a person with ‘reasonable suspicion’ to believe that a person has (or is about to) commit a crime. “But that’s not what was happening in NYC, it’s being misapplied,” said Belen.

But what is reasonable suspicion, and how can it be divorced from what a suspect looks like in a high-adrenaline, split-second decision?

‘Reasonable suspicion’ and its partner — implicit bias

The forum began with three eye-opening skits that challenged audience members’ and police officers’ assumptions about what is right and wrong when it comes to stops on the street in high-crime neighborhoods. Many residents knew the protocol for police stops, but the legal complications quickly caused disagreement about constitutional rights — even among the officers.

The last bust scene caught everyone’s attention. The detective (played by Pastor Rashidi Denson) stalked a “suspicious-looking” man in a high-crime area (played by an East Flatbush Village facilitator — and also a tall, black man wearing a hoodie) from an anonymous tip. The detective yells “Stop!” but instead he runs, instigating a chase. The detective grabs him aggressively by the shoulder, at which point he sees a gun sticking out of the suspect’s pants, and detains him.

Is this stop & frisk valid? “If the suspicion was based on an anonymous call, then the answer is no,” said one 70th Precinct NCO officer. Two young women from the audience agreed, adding that the stop isn’t valid because the officers were aggressive and rude, and touched the suspect.

“The answer is yes,” countered Sergeant Blaine, an NCO Sergeant who has served on the NYPD for 19 years. “The fact that he ran raises his level of suspicion higher, so that’s reason to stop him and frisk him because an officer safety is on the line.”

Another woman agreed. “Yes, the stop is valid because he tried to resist the officer.”

“First of all, why is the officer out there by himself? Where’s his backup if it’s a high-crime area!” said another.

Yes was the correct answer; the stop was legal because the requirements for “reasonable suspicion” become more lenient in high crime areas. “That really surprised me,” said high schooler Kassia Pierre-Louis after the event, who didn’t know that the rules changed based on neighborhood — one reason why community engagement and education is a vital part of proposed Stop & Frisk reforms.

Since the JRP, reported stops have decreased dramatically. In 2015, there were 25,000 reported stops, and only 10,000 reported for this year, said Belen, with police officers receiving additional training on procedural justice, implicit bias, and de-escalation.

“Contrary to popular belief, I am not anti-NYPD. I’m against bad practices,” said City Council Member Jumaane Williams, one of the event supporters. “Stop, question and frisk is a tool for police to do their job…but it becomes unconstitutional when officers stop people just to fill quotas. But as we have to engage with and help police,” he said.

Participants told us that they were surprised by the presence of upper echelon NYPD, including NCO officers from the 70th Precinct and community affairs officers. Executive Officer Ludwig “Tino” Romero told us that he encouraged the entire NCO team to attend the forum, to glean a “better understanding of what the public thinks.”

And the message had many positive overtones.

Focus groups bring out individual experience

After initial presentations, participants broke into discussion groups — each with a facilitator and officer — to brainstorm the positive and negative NYPD engagement tactics. But many focus groups emerged as Q & A dialogues between residents and cops, as each got a deeper understanding of the other’s challenges.

“I learned what the officers go through,” said Flatbush high schooler Makayla Anderson, citing the NCO program procedures. “I gained a sense of consideration for the officers, who have to cover a large area. Not knowing breeds ignorance,” she said, also noting the 9-month cultural sensibility training for NCOs. “That training should get extended to other officers,” she said.

Giving two demographics that usually fall to opposite ends of a power relationship — NCOs, or beat cops, and young adults that they interact with on the street — the chance to speak candidly had an impact on both sides.

In one group, a high school student praised the beat officers that patrol the streets around their school. “That’s me,” said NCO Sergeant Andre Blain, “that’s my area.”

This program is “a breath of fresh air,” Blain told DPC after the session. “It reaffirms that what we’re doing works. I’m going to sleep well tonight,” he said.

Other discussion topics included negative assumptions, ‘militia’ mentality at precincts, body language training, and prison reform. Check out illuminating presentations by each focus group below on our live video — with Belen studiously taking notes:

Highlights at time-markers: 26:10 — young man tells a story of being arrested for a robbery he didn’t commit, officers didn’t read him his rights or say why he was arrested and kept him at the station until 1am.

15:00 — “We felt that more community officers will help people relate and not feel scared or judged by police. That’s important to me because I go to a predominantly white school, and when police approach me and my friends, I’m scared that I’m going to get in trouble.”

7:30 — “Respect goes both ways.”

Youth focus

Rashidi Denson, a pastor who runs a youth program called Why Not Me Now, was “roughed up” by cops two years ago for driving down a restricted street in the Bronx on his way to work. “I was trying to find parking, and I didn’t know. Five officers, who thought I was a criminal, put me on the car. I didn’t know what was going on. I was humiliated in front of the school children and teachers,” he said.

Denson, however, supports positive community-police relationships even though that wasn’t the ethos of his upbringing in Bed-Stuy.

“I’m from Generation Y, a 70s baby, and we were taught to stay away from cops,” Denson said. But he sees a change in the kids he works with, who are showing up to learn how to break implicit patterns. According to JRP’s report, 66 percent of focus group participants (40 groups so far) are between fourteen and twenty-two years old.

Gerard Brewster of the Flatlands Flatbush Civic Group told us that he was surprised by the representation from different demographics in the focus groups, including baby boomers, Gen X-ers, millennials and even younger millennials — which represent a different mindset.

Many participants agreed that this forum was a good start for East Flatbush, and continued engagement in formal settings like this one, with business owners, parents, school-aged kids, and other NYPD officers is necessary to take steps toward meaningful reforms.

“I think we have to get back to developing relationships with community officers,” said Denson, “to build a mutual trust and respect, dialogue, and training.”