Now that Southern District Judge Shira Scheindlin has issued her long-awaited stop-and-frisk decision in Floyd. v. City of New York, attention is quickly turning to the appeal process as people wonder how long it will take, how the court will rule, and how the next mayor will respond. Suddenly lost is the need for immediacy—a federal judge found widespread and systemic unconstitutional racial profiling and searches and seizures, and it is imperative that remedies immediately be fashioned and implemented.
Scheindlin appreciated the urgent need for remedies. She ordered four: the appointment of a federal monitor to oversee reforms; revisions to policies and training materials and changes to documentation regarding stops-and-frisks; body-worn cameras in the precinct in each borough with the highest number of stops-and-frisks; and a joint remedial process involving community input. All take time to meaningfully put into practice, all will be the subject of the appeal, and all are at best possible solutions. The City Council's proposed solution, the Community Safety Act that creates an inspector general and clears a path toward racial profiling lawsuits, suffers from many of the same infirmities. The burning question is what is going to be done now, today?
