As a result of a class action lawsuit brought by the Legal Aid Society (Belle et al v. City of New York, 19-cv-2673 (SDNY)), the New York City Police Department has agreed to a major reform of its street encounter procedures. The Police Department has agreed to terminate its practice of prolonging stops to demand a person’s identification to run unrelated warrant checks and “i-card” searches without individualized reasonable suspicion to justify prolonging the detention.

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the police may stop a person when they have reasonable suspicion to believe he or she is committing, has committed or is about to commit a crime. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 [1968]; see also CPL §140.50(i) and People v. DeBour, 40 N.Y. 2d 210 (1976)). Thus, a person may be actually or constructively detained by virtue of a significant interruption of his liberty of movement. The question then arises, as to how long the police may continue to detain an individual pursuant to a stop.