The unconstitutional stop-and-frisk, without regard to probable cause or reasonable suspicion, endangers all of us including my grandson David, who was a named plaintiff in the landmark class action lawsuit, Floyd v. The City of New York, NYPD and Mayor Bloomberg.et al.,
David, who is biracial, was subjected to numerous stops and frisks, while he was attending Saint Johns University and while in his own upper class neighborhood in Manhattan where he was raised because he didn’t look like he belonged. 98 percent of all youngsters stopped and frisked were never charged and over 80 percent are black or Hispanic innocent citizens of New York City, living in their neighborhoods trying to pursue a productive life.
Stop and frisk along with a security system that spies on all of our phone conversations and e-mails, makes us less safe. Police spying on mosques and innocent Muslim citizens is cruel and unproductive in reducing crime and terrorism. The imprisonment of all Japanese-Americans in World War II did not advance our democracy and violated our constitution.
The police and security systems should use their resources within legal parameters to confront crime and terrorism. Stop the sale of illegal guns before they get to New York City.
The middle class is not under threat from illegal stop and frisk procedures.
The middle class is decimated by home foreclosures, the loss of jobs and the inequities of income between the 1 percent and the rest of us.
Boris Ourlicht
Great Neck
