Alluding to what she called “overwhelming evidence” that the New York Police Department is running a centralized stop-and-frisk program that has led to thousands of unconstitutional stops, a federal judge yesterday certified a 2008 class action suit challenging the controversial policy.
In the process, Southern District Judge Shira Scheindlin (See Profile) said she found New York City’s attitude toward the suit to be “deeply troubling.” She criticized the city’s Law Department for stating that a court order to block the practice would amount to “judicial intrusion” and arguing that no injunction could guarantee that suspicionless stops would never occur or would occur in only a certain number of cases.
