STOP AND FRISK POLICY- ARTICLE REVIEW
LIBERTY UNIVERSITY
HELM SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT
Stop and Frisk Policy- Article Review
Submitted to Dr. Erik Root
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
PLCY 700
Foundation of Public Policy
by
Jervaughn Reid
September 23, 2021.
Author Note
Jervaughn Reid
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jervaughn Reid.
Email: jreid83@liberty.edu
STOP FRISK POLICY ARTICLE REVIEW 1
Stop and Frisk Policy - Article Review
For the past two decades, the United States of America has practiced a random stop frisk
policy. This policy is aimed at ensuring that the security apparatus is maintained in the United
States. To be specific, New York City has been where this policy has been practiced for a very
long time. New York City has been experiencing many insecurity issues ranging from drug
trafficking, human trafficking, and other forms of smuggling that are a threat to criminal justice.
However, as the police officers implement this policy, there have been some ups and downs that
have hindered this policy's success. For instance, some people have been complaining that police
officers have been mistreating them. Some complain that NYPD’s officers are racially abusive.
Others complain that they are abused based on their social class in society. Newberry, in his
study, addressed some of the complaints put across by people1. A Data development Analysis of
the New York City Stop-and-Frisk Policy, Pre- and Post-Constitutionality Ruling, talks about
some of the impacts of this process in society. This study aims to give a review of the above-
listed article based on the parameters listed below.
Central Thesis of the Article
The main aim is to analyze the impact of the stop frisk policy in New York City. There
have been allegations that the police have greatly mistreated some people during stop and frisk
exercises. Therefore, the authors of this article looked at different races, how they had viewed
this process, and the number of cases they encountered. It also compared the instances of the stop
frisk policy in pre and post constitutionality ruling through the human rights court.
1.Jay, Newberry. “A Data Envelopment Analysis of the New York City Stop-And-
Frisk Policy, Pre- and Postconstitutionality Ruling.” Papers in Applied Geography, vol.
3, no. 3-4, (2017), pp. 308–321.
STOP FRISK POLICY ARTICLE REVIEW 2
The Method Used to Support the Claims of the Article
The methods used to support this claim are through the data envelopment analysis
technique. In this method, the researcher used linear programming techniques to assess the levels
of complex organizations such as schools, hospitals, and universities where a number of these
stops and frisk cases are more prone. This technique analyses the impacts of the methods used in
this process. Additionally, it gives suggestions by highlighting ways that the police department
can use in order to evade some of the complaints that the public has been having with regards to
this issue. The data envelopment analysis technique uses the scalar measure to analyze the data
more.
In this procedure, there is a parametric method of analysis that scrutinizes the data
presented by different people. The data presented compares arithmetically, the number of
instances of stop and frisk pre and post constitutionality ruling by the court, and the number of
complaints in each parameter.
Type of Method of Research Used
This research used quantitative data analysis methodology. Quantitative analysis involves
the use of a mathematical approach in the analysis. For instance, it used tables and graphs to
compare the different groups of people ranging from blacks, whites, and Hispanics. Additionally,
the results show the mathematical representation of each group’s encounter with the police post
and pre-court ruling. It uses percentile representations to show how each group has been affected
by this policy.
Type of Data Collected
STOP FRISK POLICY ARTICLE REVIEW 3
The data collected from this research was obtained from the New York City police
department database between 2012 and 2014. The data also represents the extent to which people
were affected by the stops and frisks made. It is expected that the efficiency in this process will
be increased after the ruling because the report highlights some of the challenges that the
subjects underwent. The data was collected on behalf of the police by an agency called the UF-
250. In 2012 reported cases were 532,111, while cases reported in 2014 totaled 45,787, thus
showing a slight difference after some credibility was restored in this sector.
Conclusions Drawn from the Study
Many issues can be drawn from this report. The first observation is that New York City
is more rampant with cases of stop frisk policy than any other place in the United States of
America. Being one of the highly populated cities in the US, it has to be heavily guarded. This
approach is believed to be fishing out people who may be illegally involved in the smuggling of
items in and out of America. Stop, question, and frisk exercises in New York City reduce the
chance of transitional organized crime. The controversy in this policy involved the increased
inappropriate number of stops that minorities and lower-class people in the society were involved
in.
From the results and data analysis, it is seen that the number of black and Hispanic stops
was more compared to the white stops. This means that this policy was geared towards
discriminating against the Hispanic and the African American race. NYPD's stops, questioning,
and frisking was based on race, targeting innocent blacks and Hispanics. From the data tabulated,
over the last five years, there were 5.1 million people that were stopped in New York City to be
frisked. Among the stops, 51.8% were Africans, 30.5% were Hispanics, while 9.9% were whites.
STOP FRISK POLICY ARTICLE REVIEW 4
This vividly shows that there is discrimination in the stop, question, and frisk exercise.
Psychologically, the police would have been obsessed with the concept of white supremacy.
Some of them must have believed that white races are less involved in crime than other races.
A court hearing set as a result of complaints from people indeed vindicated the
complainants by showing that a number of them were mistreated. The ruling from the court did
not stop the policy, but it instilled improvement in the dignity of the police officers who enforced
this policy. The research also showed that, after the court's intervention, there was a relevant
change in the way the police handled the victims though the change was not highly noticeable.
The soundness of the Conclusion
The conclusion presented by the author of this article appears to be sound. This is
because the explanations seem to be tallying with the data that has been collected and presented
for the analysis. The conclusion represents disparities present in the frisks; the same information
is reflected in the kind of data in the tabulated format. The research conclusion is in alignment
with the results of other researchers on the same topic.
Weakness of the research article
Even though the author presents a very important research topic and analysis, some
weaknesses are witnessed in this report.
a) The method of data collection would appear biased for someone who understands more
about research. This is because the data was collected through the New York police
department. It means that there could be some biases presented in this data since NYPD
were investigating themselves. The researcher ought to have used data collected by the
independent agency.
STOP FRISK POLICY ARTICLE REVIEW 5
b) The statistical analysis should have used an adequately demonstrated parametric analysis
to show variance in the race's stop frisk policy.
Conclusion
Stop frisk policy is a necessary process; however, it can create some form of
discrimination when done in the wrong way. Police officers across the world should apply some
professionalism in this process. This paper used quantitative methodology to collect, analyze and
present its results. Doing so will help in combatting crime professionally in society. The study
results show that the number of black and Hispanic stops was more than the white stops implying
racial discrimination. This paper's conclusion is soundly based on the generalizability of the
results. This paper has some weaknesses; particularly the way data was collected, analyzed, and
presented. The data used in this research was collected by the NYPD's themselves, which brings
trust.
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