Amy Goodman
@DemocracyNow·3.2M subscribers·19.4K videos
NYPD Officer Risks His Job to Speak Out Against "Stop-and-Frisk" Targeting of People of Color 1 of 2
Posted
November 6, 2013
Views
7,306
Likes
107
Comments
14
Engagement
November 6, 2013
7,306
107
14
1.66%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
6:41Now PlayingThe New York City Police Department's controversial "stop-and-frisk" program was a major issue for voters going to the polls in the city's mayoral election. The issue drew widespread attention in August when U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin found "stop-and-frisk" unconstitutional, saying police had relied on a "policy of indirect racial profiling" that led officers to routinely stop "blacks and Hispanics who would not have been stopped if they were white." While she did not halt use of the tactic, Scheindlin appointed a federal court monitor to oversee a series of reforms. In a dramatic development last week, those reforms were put on hold. On Thursday, an appeals court stayed the changes, effectively allowing police officers to continue using "stop-and-frisk." We get reaction from a police officer who has spoken out about problems with the program he and thousands of others are asked to carry out. Adhyl Polanco became critical of the NYPD's "stop-and-frisk" policy when his superiors told officers to meet a quota of stops, or face punishment.
Watch part 2 of this interview at
Polanco made audio recordings of the quotas being described during meetings in his precinct, and brought his concerns to authorities, but he said he was ignored. He then took his audio tapes to the media, including the Village Voice, where reporter Graham Rayman wrote a series called "The NYPD Tapes," featuring several police officers like him. For several years, Polanco was suspended with pay. He has returned to work on the police force, where he has been put on modified assignment. "You cannot treat the whole Black and Latino community as if they are all about to commit a crime, Polanco says. "I'll handcuff anybody who's committing a crime. But when you take a male black [and say]: 'Cuff him, he doesn't look like he belongs here.' Cuff him for what?"
Democracy Now!, is an independent global news hour that airs weekdays on 1,200+ TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch it live 89am ET at
FOLLOW DEMOCRACY NOW! ONLINE:
Twitter: @democracynow
Subscribe on YouTube
Listen on SoundCloud
Daily Email News Digest
Watch Democracy Now! live 89am ET Monday through Friday via livestream at
Please consider supporting independent media by making a donation to Democracy Now! today, visit
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
