The Hunted and the Hated: An Inside Look at the NYPD's Stop-and-Frisk Policy

A secret audio recording of a stop-and-frisk in action sheds unprecedented light on a practice that has put the city's young people of color in the NYPD's crosshairs. Read the full story at: http://www.thenation.com/article/170413/stopped-and-frisked-being-fking-mutt-video

Directed by Ross Tuttle
Produced by Ross Tuttle, Erin Schneider, Stephen Maing
Camera by Ross Tuttle, Stephen Maing
Editing by Stephen Maing, Carla Ruff

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If you are going to substantially alter these captions, please contact me first or simply make a new copy of the video, thank you.
Captions courtesy of the Radical Access Mapping Project, Un-ceded Coast Salish Territories of the Skwxwú7mesh, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.
To learn more, see: http://radicalaccessiblecommunities.wordpress.com/subtitled-videos/
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[ Police Sirens ]

[ cop ] You look very suspicious.

Cause you are always looking at me crazy.

[ Music Playing... ]

[ Altercation Occurring ]

That is exactly how some (explicit) will go down.

Just like that.

Just like that.

People do not like the police
because of the harassment.

And what civilians do not understand, is that
the police department is like forcing us...

...to do these unreasonable stops,

or, you're going to get penalized.

I think the mayor is absolutely correct.

Some people are just very hurt by it, and upset,
when they are stopped unnecessarily.

Well I understand that.

Some people...

You know you're taking away, at the very least,
you are taking away people's time.

So I understand, that people
may not be happy with it.

But I can also assure you, that I go
to the communities, communities of color,...

...people want more.

[ reporter ] They want more stop and frisks?

Absolutely.

I had this captain who walked into the precinct,
and he gave a speech about harassing the public.

His words were...

"We're going to go out there
and violate some rights."

We hear it from the captain down.

We want 250s.

This is Stop, Question, and Frisk.

[ phone ringing ]

I was walking home from my girlfriends house,
and a cop car went passed me.

A couple of seconds later
I heard the car turn around.,

and, they just popped out.

They all just jumped out of the car.

I decided to record it 'cause
I was getting stopped a lot,

and I didn't have evidence of cops
being disrespectful and everything.

So I pressed the button,
and it recorded the whole thing.

Yo I just got stopped like two blocks ago.

Cause you are always looking at me crazy.

[ cop ] That's our job my man.

Listen to me. Listen to me.

[ cop ] Because you keep doing that shit, man.
We stopped you last time.

[ cop ] Who the fuck are you talkin' to?

[ Alvin ] You asked me why I had a bookbag on.
[ cop ] Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?

[ Alvin ] You asked me why I had a bookbag on.
[ cop ] Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?

[ altercation occurring ]

Why you touching me for?

He was holding me.
He was going through my pockets.

Going up and down.
He was going through my sweater.

Then that's when he told me
to keep my hands on my head.

So I was like this the whole time.

[ Alvin ] For what?

[ cop ] Shut your fuckin; mouth kid.

[ Alvin ] Why am I getting arrested for?

[ cop ] SHUT YOUR MOUTH!

[ Alvin ] What am I being arrested for?

He decided to take my hands, from here,
and put it behind my back, like that.

[ cop ] Shut your fucking mouth!

[ Alvin ] You're asking me questions!

I was..

[ cop ] Have some fuckin' respect!

[ Alvin ] ... 'cause you always stoppin' me
for no reason.

[ Alvin ] You're going to break my arm?

For what?

[ cop ] Who's your father?

[ Alvin ] He's not going to answer
he doesn't got a phone.

He is a traffic cop?

Figures.

[ Alvin ] Don't touch me. OK he's a traff...

[ recording playing back some of previous assault ]

While they holding me...
the sergeant is holding me like this.

He's like, "I'm going to break your arm."

I'm like..I'm like, you're going to break my arm?

He said "yeah and I'm gonna
punch you in the face."

I was like you know, "you're gonna
punch my in my face?

He's like "yeah, and then I'm gonna arrest you."

I'm like, "arrest me for what?"

He's like, "for being a mutt."

So he grabbed me, by my book bag,
and started pushing me down.

So I am going backwards down a hill, and he
just kept pushing me and pushing me.

It looked like he was going to hit me.

I felt like they were trying to make me resist,
so they could fight me back.

[ recording playing back assault... ]

I'm mad just hearing that thing.

Not many words really, like, could describe that.

It's just disturbing.

But, that is exactly what is happening.

Like, I can relate to what he is doing.

Cause I know that situation.

They just don't got no respect for us.

And they wonder why we
don't have respect for them.

For them to just call him a name like that like...

That's just crazy.

[ interviewer ] Do you think, that during stops,
that some police officers try to provoke,...

..so that they can justify arrests?

[ cop ] Of course they do. A lot of police officers
they try to set civilians off.

and then once they start talking, start cursing,
they can lock them off for anything.

There were two minorities leaning against the wall.

They weren't doing anything.

My sergeant ordered me to write them
"blocking pedestrian traffic".

If you are a certain ethnicity,
standing on the corner,...

-lieutenants, sergeants- have no problem searching
you, violating your rights, and racial profiling.

There was one statement, that the sergeant said,
about what he used to do.

He used to stop a guy walking down the street...

...with baggy pants, his underwear hanging out,
and he'd just stop him.

He says "I know he's probably up to nothin',
but I just stop him anyway to get a 250".

There's this one cop that everybody
in the neighbourhood knows.

Stopped us like three times already.

He was like, "Now come here".

So they got out the car.

They threw my friend on the car.

I'm still walking.

He spun me around and punched me in my stomach.

He started just patting us down.

He just left us there.

What we're trying to do is, is make certain
that it's done as professionally as possible.

That the proper respect is shown
and done according to the law.

This goes all the way up.

All the way up to the commissioners office.

I'd say even the mayors office.

Where they are trying to be proactive.

and say "look, we are stopping people
and getting drugs and guns off the streets."

But it's not. I think of the 600,000 people
that were stopped last year,

only 1%, of those that were stopped,
were carrying weapons.

[ newscasters ] The NYPD controversial
Stop and Frisk policy...

Last year your police officers stopped
and interrogated people nearly 686,000 times...

Today, that lawsuit raises serious questions about
quotas, racial profiling, and constitutional rights.

The public isn't aware of what's happening,
but everything is being look at as far as numbers.

And it's a numbers game.

Ok. What did you get last year? Well, you
have to match it, and give me more this year.

They're trying to keep all of this stuff quiet.

So this is my proof, that they're putting
pressure on me to write summonses.

Commanders are trying to be proactive,
or show that they're being proactive.

And here you have a system where people
are told to get those numbers,...

... to where they should to be,
and you're gonna get your promotion.

The commanding officer wants
to become a deputy inspector.

The executive officer wants to become
a commanding officer.

If you do well, by keeping the arrests up
and the summonses up,...

...you will be promoted to the next rank.

So, they put pressure on the police officers
to generate numbers and arrests.

I mean, lets be real, it is a quota.

Nobody wants to call it that,
but that's what it is.

They can call it a performance objective. They call
it a goal that can mask it however they want.

It's a quota, and it does exist.

Some of us, under the stress, make them up.

Some of us, under the stress,
stop innocent people and search them.

And there are certain units out there
that will run around and stop everybody.

What happens to the officer if they don't do
what the police department tells them to do?

As far as quotas, they will come after you.

Come after you meaning transfers.
Giving you low evaluations.

They give you unwanted assignments.

Put you in a post which is very dangerous.

High crime. By yourself. In a corner.

This is a form of retaliation.

Basically a change of tours,
put you on the midnight.

They make you look bad on paperwork.

And that paperwork will trail you
for the rest of your police career.

And knowing that your livelihood is at stake,
you meet the quota.

It does create this feeling, of hey listen,
I got to get my numbers.

When you put that pressure on the officer,
this us versus them mentality does exist.

When I came into this police department,
I wanted to help people.

But the civilian population they are being hunted.

Instead of being protected by us,
they're being hunted.

And we're being hated.

The police department is pushing the new guys
to be bounty hunters.

And I use that word because
that's exactly what it is.

They're hunting.

There's a lot of officers, who are fed up,
and want to do something about it.

And there's people who are scared.

There's a lot of officers that would like
to tell their story.

But, nobody wants to hear the truth.

Nobody wants to hear the bad.

You need police, but the police department
needs to change things.

At one point, I did want to be a cop,

to help people, and mostly just be like able to
wear a badge, and uniform, and be proud of it.

Now I feel like i'm not sure.

Cause they're not there to help people anymore.

They're just there to like stop and humiliate them.

Make them feel bad.

There is no excuses for the way they treated me.

This one individual was thinking about doing NYPD.

The first thing I told him is, "Definitely not."

This job, racial profiles, will force you to do things
that you don't wanna do.

We're supposed to be the best in the world?

We're the best at making money, and we're
the best at arresting, and summonsing, everybody.