NYPD Response To Monitor’s Quarterly Report #16

May 7, 2022

The NYPD received the 16th report by the court appointed federal monitor charged with overseeing compliance and progress in NYPD reforms related to stop, question and frisk policies arising from the resolution of the civil litigation in the Floyd, Davis and Ligon actions.

The monitor’s report finds that overall, the NYPD has reached a 92% rate of full or partial compliance with the requirements of the court orders and monitor’s recommendations.

Overall, stops declined by 98.7% in CY 2021 (9,112) vs. CY 2011 (684,330). So far in 2022 there have been just over 4,600 stops citywide. Of these, 34% resulted in an arrest, 3% resulted in a summonses, and in 7.5% of the encounters a gun was recovered while in 7% of the encounters a cutting instrument was recovered.

“The NYPD appreciates the work of the Monitor and our collaboration towards the shared goal of meeting the bar on these important reforms”, said Police Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell. "We have come a long way together and accomplished a great deal but there is still work to be done and we will continue the positive momentum toward full compliance."

The NYPD has routinely exceeded the requirements of the monitorship. For example, the Department deployed body cameras citywide, expanded training curricula content beyond ordered reforms, and implemented implicit bias training even though not court-ordered.

Among the reports notable findings:

  • the NYPD has made significant strides in meeting the Court’s requirements
  • review of NYPD policies and practices in 2020 and 2021 shows a continued improvement in NYPD’s compliance with the Court’s reform requirements and with the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments with respect to stop, frisk and search
  • The Monitor assessed 61 tasks required for compliance – NYPD achieved full (43 tasks) or partial (13 tasks) compliance with 56 (92%) required tasks
  • A review of stop reports and Body Worn Camera footage showed an increase in the percentage of compliant stops, meaning those encounters with a clear, sufficient legal basis, from 2019 to 2020, from 77 percent to 86 percent

    While the Monitor’s report notes significant progress and a high rate of compliance, there were also areas where the Monitor concludes there is more work to be done. Among those:
    • Further reduce or eliminate the number of unreported stops by encouraging supervisors to be more attentive in ensuring all stops are properly documented. While significantly reduced, one of the NYPD audits designed to identify underreporting, shows 29% of stops were not properly documented. It is notable that compliance and record keeping during the time period covered by this report may have been effected by Covid-19. It should also be noted that the last three quarters of 2021 show compliance rates at or close to 100%.
    • Increasing compliance with the offering “Right-To-Know” business cards when required
    • SQF refresher training videos (currently in production)

The NYPD will continue its work with the federal monitor to continue to build on the great strides reached since this collaboration began in October 2014. This report describes many accomplishments primarily relying on data from 2019 – 2020. In the time period since the report, compliance has steadily and consistently increased. "Since the time a decade ago when hundreds of thousands of stops were made a year, today, stops have been reduced by 97%." Said Matthew Pontillo, the NYPD’s Chief of Risk Management. "At the same time, through intelligence led, data-driven, precision policing, the NYPD continues to make gun arrests at the highest rate in over two decades."

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