In 2007, the NYCLU started the campaign to challenge this heinous NYPD “practice of keeping a computer database of completely innocent people who have been stopped, questioned or frisked by police officers.” Since 2004, the NYPD has stopped and interrogated people nearly 3 million times, predominately people of color, African Americans and Hispanics.
“We applaud Governor Paterson for pulling the plug on the NYPD’s sprawling database of innocent black and Latino New Yorkers,” said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman, according to a statement posted at the NYCLU website. “Innocent people stopped by the police for doing nothing more than going to school, work or the subway should not become permanent criminal suspects. By signing this bill, the Paterson administration has put itself on the right side of history and leaves an important legacy in support of civil rights, civil liberties and common sense.”
The new law, which was sponsored in the Legislature by Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D-57th AD) and Sen. Eric Adams (D-20th SD), prohibits the NYPD from storing in a computer database the names, addresses, Social Security numbers and other personal information of individuals who have been stopped and/or frisked by police and released without any further legal action.
Read NYCLU full article here.