Building on our recent Rabbi Marshall Meyer retreat for religious leaders on police-community relations, the Interfaith Center of New York welcomes yesterday’s federal court decision about NYPD’s “stop and frisk” practices for two reasons. First, the outcome of Floyd v. City of New York shows a zero tolerance approach to racial and ethnic profiling as it is being practiced under NYPD’s current implementation of “stop and frisk.” Not only is this good news for New Yorkers of every color and background, but it further raises important questions about the police department’s practice of identifying members of certain religious traditions as suspicious persons based on their religion.
In addition, the reform process Judge Shira A. Scheindlin outlined in Floyd, and her appointment of an independent monitor to oversee it, are major steps forward in building an authentic, substantive, and long-overdue dialogue between police and community. Judge Scheindlin’s directions to the NYPD to revise its training materials relating to “stop and frisk,” improve the recording system for stops, introduce Phoenix, Arizona’s procedure of certain police officer’s wearing body cameras, and participate in a joint remedial process with New York communities are steps that will revitalize trust between the NYPD and New Yorkers of all backgrounds who share a stake in the safety and well-being of our City. The Interfaith Center of New York strongly commends this movement toward transparency, accountability, and broad-based community dialogue.
