Stop and Frisk Gun Reduction Breeds Disguised Harms: Footnotes

© 2001, 2010 Peter Free

[This is page 6 of 6]     Page1 ─ Page 2 ─ Page 3 ─ Page 4 ─ Page 5

 

[1] Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1.

[2] Police slang for stop and frisk.

[3] Author's personal observation as a career law enforcement supervisor.  At the logical extreme, this is the concept underlying the police state.

[4] James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling, Broken Windows, ATLANTIC MONTHLY 29-38 (March, 1982).

[5] The definition of "disorder" is problematic.  Manipulating the definition in a way that disadvantages youth, minorities, the mentally ill, and the poor is easy to do.  The definition is predominantly an aesthetic one.

[6] BERNARD E. HARCOURT, ILLUSION OF ORDER: THE FALSE PROMISE OF BROKEN WINDOWS POLICING 1 (2001).

[7] Id. at 1-3.

[8] "The goal of the partnership is to ensure that police 'meet the demands' of law-abiding people within their jurisdiction."  Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General of the State of New York, The New York City Police Department's "Stop and Frisk" Practices: A Report to the People of the State of New York From The Office of the Attorney General 47 (December 1, 1999) <http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/reports/stop_frisk/stop_frisk.html>.

[9] Id. at 48.

[10] Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1.

[11] Id. at 53.

[12] Id. at 54-55.

[13] Id. at 54-55.

[14] Lawrence W. Sherman et al., National Institute of Justice, The Kansas City Gun Experiment (January 1995).

[15] Id. at 4.

[16] Id. at 3.

[17] This is a luxury that few police departments can afford.  Kansas City did it by means of a federal "Weed and Seed" grant.  Id. at 1.

[18] Id. at 6.

[19] Id. at 9.

[20] Id. at 7.

[21] Id. at 8.

[22] Id. at 8.

[23] Id. at 9.

[24] Id. at 9

[25] Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General of the State of New York, The New York City Police Department's "Stop and Frisk" Practices: A Report to the People of the State of New York From The Office of the Attorney General v (December 1, 1999) <http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/reports/stop_frisk/stop_frisk.html>.

[26] Id. at iv.

[27] Id. at 63-64.

[28] Id. at 63.

[29] Id. at 58.

[30] Id. at 94-95.

[31] Id. at ix.

[32] Id. at x.

[33] Id. at xii.

[34] Id. at 106.

[35] Id. at xiv.

[36] Id. at xiv.

[37] This statement goes beyond that made by the OAG, which interpreted all UF-250 data in a light most favorable to the officers.  The Attorney General was apparently willing to withhold judgment on the nearly one-quarter of the forms with inadequate data.  The author, a former police watch commander, is not so willing, particularly in view of the fact that reasonable suspicion must always be articulable.  The UF-250s required supervisory approval.  Id. at 64.  Absent required information, why were the inadequately documented 23 percent approved?  What sort of illusory system of supervisory constraint is this?

[38] Id. at 72.

[39] Id. at 72.

[40] Experienced officers recognize that small people of either sex can be dangerous and virtually impossible to control without a surprising number of assisting officers.  Author's personal experience.

[41] Id. at 67 quoting New York Police Department Police Strategy No. 7 at 14.

[42] Id. at 69-70.  This observation comports with the author's own experience.

[43] Timothy Lynch, "We Own the Night" Amadou Diallo's Deadly Encounter with New York City's Street Crimes Unit, 56 CATO INSTITUTE BRIEFING PAPERS 6 (March 31, 2000).

[44] Id. at 6.


[45] United States Commission on Civil Rights, Racial and Ethnic Tensions in American Communities: Poverty, Inequality and Discrimination Volume V: The Los Angeles Report, Chapter 7: Findings and Recommendations, Sec. 6.4 (visited Nov. 21, 2001) <http://www.usccr.gov/la/main.htm>.

[46] Carl B. Klockars et al., National Institute of Justice, The Measurement of Police Integrity (May 2000).

[47] Id. at 4.

[48] Id. at 2.

[49] Id. at 2.

[50] Id. at 2.

[51] Id. at 8.

[52] Id. at 8.

[53] David Weisburd et al., National Institute of Justice, Police Attitudes Toward Abuse of Authority: Findings From a National Study (May 2000).

[54] Id. at 10.

[55] Id. at 4.

[56] Id. at 3.

[57] 48.8 percent.  Id. at 5.

[58] 51.3 percent African-American, 23.4 percent of non-black minority officers, and 11.9 percent of white officers.  Id. at 8.

[59] 54.4 percent African-American, 17.2 percent other minority, and 8.8 percent white.  Id. at 9.

[60] 92.6 percent.  Id. at 6.

[61] 94.4 percent.  Id. at 6.

[62] Id. at 6.

[63] Id. at 3.

[64] Id. at 3.

[65] George L. Kelling, Institute of National Justice, "Broken Windows" and Police Discretion 17 (October 1999).

[66] Id. at Preface.

[67] Id. at 16.

[68] Id. at 17.

[69] Id. at Preface.

[70] Id. at 2.

[71] Id. at 37.

[72] Id. at 39.  My former Chief often repeated, "Firm, but fair!" as a secondary guideline to police action in the primary context of assisting the community and its individuals in going about their self-chosen lawful business.  Law enforcement existed only to serve the freedom of individuals and the Constitution.  In the heat of conflict, it served me well to recall this ethos as the ultimate goal of the discretion I was to exercise.  Making those values and that honor explicit is a necessity.

[73] Id. at 39-40.

[74] Bureau of Justice Statistics, Firearms and Crime Statistics: 1973-2000 (visited Nov. 20, 2001) <http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/guns.htm.

[75] Id.

[76] Caroline Wolf Harlow, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Firearm Use by Offenders: Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities 1 (November 2001).

[77] This is not a criticism of the value of combating real disorder.  Subway turnstile jumping, aggressive panhandling, and graffiti writing are good examples of practices society should actively oppose in order to preserve the aesthetic of orderliness.  However, in each of these cases, probable cause for intervention and arrest is present just as soon as the officer sees the offense.  The same is not true for intuited weapons possession.

 

[This is page 6 of 6]     Page1 ─ Page 2 ─ Page 3 ─ Page 4 ─ Page 5