1 00:00:49,042 --> 00:00:50,083 [officer] you look very suspicious. 2 00:00:50,083 --> 00:00:52,200 [Alvin] cause y'all always looking like crazy... 3 00:01:02,785 --> 00:01:06,031 [sounds of intense physical struggle and yelling] 4 00:01:08,499 --> 00:01:10,224 [Alvin] Why you pushing me like that for? 5 00:01:12,147 --> 00:01:15,910 That's exactly how some shit will go down, just like that, just like that. 6 00:01:15,910 --> 00:01:18,760 People don't like police because of the harrassment, 7 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:20,328 and what civilians don't understand 8 00:01:20,328 --> 00:01:22,515 is that the police department is like forcing us 9 00:01:22,515 --> 00:01:26,088 to do these unreasonable stops, or you're gonna get penalized. 10 00:01:39,263 --> 00:01:40,093 [reporter] 11 00:01:45,665 --> 00:01:47,842 [commissioner] Well I think that the Mayor is absolutely correct. 12 00:01:47,842 --> 00:01:52,504 [reporter] Some people are just very hurt by it and upset when they are stopped unnecessarily. 13 00:01:52,504 --> 00:01:55,506 [commissioner] Well I understand that, some people, y'know, 14 00:01:55,506 --> 00:01:58,316 you're taking away at the very least, you're taking away people's time. 15 00:01:58,316 --> 00:02:00,746 So I understand people may not be happy with it, 16 00:02:00,746 --> 00:02:03,386 but I can also assure you that I go to communities, 17 00:02:03,386 --> 00:02:05,241 communities of colour, and people want more. 18 00:02:05,617 --> 00:02:06,832 [reporter] They want more stop-and-frisks? 19 00:02:06,832 --> 00:02:07,800 [commissioner] Absolutely. 20 00:02:12,366 --> 00:02:15,298 I had this captain who walked into the precinct 21 00:02:16,113 --> 00:02:18,776 and gave a speech about harassing the public. 22 00:02:18,776 --> 00:02:22,070 His words were "we're gonna go out there and we're gonna violate some rights". 23 00:02:22,070 --> 00:02:27,643 We hear it from the captain down, we want "250s", this is Stop, Question and Frisk. 24 00:02:30,415 --> 00:02:31,739 [phone dialing] 25 00:02:44,061 --> 00:02:46,584 I was walking home from my girlfriend's house 26 00:02:46,584 --> 00:02:48,699 and a cop car went past me. 27 00:02:48,699 --> 00:02:51,478 A couple of seconds later I heard the car turn around 28 00:02:51,478 --> 00:02:53,689 and they just popped out, they just all just jumped out of the car. 29 00:02:54,613 --> 00:02:58,033 I decided to record it because I was getting stopped a lot 30 00:02:58,033 --> 00:03:01,223 and I didn't have evidence of a cop being disrespectful or anything, 31 00:03:01,223 --> 00:03:03,743 so I pressed the button and recorded the whole thing. 32 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:10,404 [Alvin] I just got stopped like 2 blocks away... 33 00:03:11,250 --> 00:03:13,158 [Alvin] Cause y'all are always lookin at me like crazy... 34 00:03:17,181 --> 00:03:19,150 [back and forth] 35 00:03:19,690 --> 00:03:22,285 [officer] Listen to me, listen to me. 36 00:03:29,827 --> 00:03:33,800 [officer] because you keep doin' that shit, man, we stopped you last time... 37 00:03:45,196 --> 00:03:46,806 [officer] Who the fuck are you talkin' to?? 38 00:03:46,806 --> 00:03:47,937 [Alvin] You asked me why I had a book bag on... 39 00:03:47,937 --> 00:03:48,766 [officer] Who the fuck you think you're talkin' to? 40 00:03:48,766 --> 00:03:49,756 [Alvin] You asked me if I had a book bag on 41 00:03:49,756 --> 00:03:51,431 [back and forth, officers swearing] 42 00:03:51,431 --> 00:03:52,672 [Alvin] Why are you touchin' me for? 43 00:03:52,672 --> 00:03:53,563 [sounds of struggle] 44 00:03:53,563 --> 00:03:55,627 He was holding me, he's going through pockets, going up, down, 45 00:03:55,627 --> 00:03:56,853 he's goin through my sweater 46 00:03:56,853 --> 00:03:59,126 and that's when he told me to keep my hands on my head, 47 00:03:59,126 --> 00:04:01,022 so I was like this the whole time. 48 00:04:01,945 --> 00:04:03,368 [Alvin] What for? 49 00:04:03,368 --> 00:04:05,059 [officer] Shut your fuckin' mouth kid. 50 00:04:05,059 --> 00:04:05,874 [Alvin] Why am I being arrested for? 51 00:04:05,874 --> 00:04:07,156 [officer] Shut your mouth. 52 00:04:07,156 --> 00:04:08,864 [Alvin] What am I being arrested for? 53 00:04:16,126 --> 00:04:20,348 He decided to take my hands from here and he put em behind my back like that. 54 00:04:22,828 --> 00:04:24,994 [officer yelling] Shut your fuckin' mouth! 55 00:04:24,994 --> 00:04:27,103 [Alvin] You askin' me questions. 56 00:04:27,753 --> 00:04:28,931 [Alvin] I was... 57 00:04:28,931 --> 00:04:30,221 [officer] Have some fuckin' respect. 58 00:04:30,221 --> 00:04:32,451 [Alvin] Cause you always stop me for no reason...] 59 00:04:32,885 --> 00:04:34,596 [Alvin] Why, why are you pushing... 60 00:04:34,596 --> 00:04:36,134 [Alvin] You're gonna break my arm? 61 00:04:36,857 --> 00:04:39,809 [officer] Who's your father? Your father's on the job? 62 00:04:39,809 --> 00:04:40,309 [officer/s] Shut the fuck up (etc) 63 00:04:40,309 --> 00:04:40,809 [Alvin] You're gonna punch me in my face? 64 00:04:41,297 --> 00:04:42,026 [Alvin] ...got a phone... 65 00:04:42,026 --> 00:04:42,613 [officer] ...in Traffic? He's a Traffic cop? 66 00:04:43,552 --> 00:04:44,420 [officer] Figures. 67 00:04:44,420 --> 00:04:45,255 [officer, mocking] Traffic cop. 68 00:04:45,255 --> 00:04:45,990 [Alvin] Yep. Don't touch me... 69 00:04:45,990 --> 00:04:47,948 [sounds of struggle] 70 00:04:47,948 --> 00:04:49,107 [Alvin recorded] Why you pushin me like that for? 71 00:04:49,107 --> 00:04:50,077 [officer] Shut your fuckin' mouth. 72 00:04:50,077 --> 00:04:53,197 [Alvin] Why you pushin me like that for? 73 00:04:53,649 --> 00:04:55,787 While they holding me, the sergeant's holding me like this, 74 00:04:55,787 --> 00:04:57,323 he's like "i'm gonna break your arm" 75 00:04:57,323 --> 00:05:00,177 I'm like, you're gonna break my arm? 76 00:05:00,177 --> 00:05:01,470 He's like yeah, and I'm gonna punch you in the face, 77 00:05:01,470 --> 00:05:02,671 I was like, you're gonna punch me in the face? 78 00:05:02,671 --> 00:05:05,389 He's like yeah, he's like and then I'm gonna arrest you. 79 00:05:05,389 --> 00:05:06,458 I'm like, arrest me for what? 80 00:05:06,458 --> 00:05:08,818 And he's like, for being a mutt. 81 00:05:08,818 --> 00:05:12,031 So he grabbed me by my book bag and he started pushin me down, 82 00:05:12,031 --> 00:05:13,993 so I'm going backwards down the hill, 83 00:05:13,993 --> 00:05:15,517 and he just kept pushing me and pushing me 84 00:05:15,517 --> 00:05:17,765 and looked like he was gonna hit me. 85 00:05:17,765 --> 00:05:20,608 I feel like they was trying to make me resist, or start fighting back. 86 00:05:22,169 --> 00:05:23,195 [recording] 87 00:05:23,195 --> 00:05:24,266 [Alvin] Why you pushing me like that for? 88 00:05:24,266 --> 00:05:25,335 [officer] I swear to god... 89 00:05:25,335 --> 00:05:26,481 [Alvin repeating] Why you pushing me like that? 90 00:05:26,481 --> 00:05:28,118 [officer yelling] Take a fucking walk!! 91 00:05:28,118 --> 00:05:29,523 ...fucking ?. 92 00:05:29,523 --> 00:05:35,023 [sounds of intense physical struggle and officer/s swearing] 93 00:05:38,168 --> 00:05:40,377 I'm mad just hearing that, like, 94 00:05:40,377 --> 00:05:42,973 Not many words really could describe that, 95 00:05:42,973 --> 00:05:45,281 it's just disturbing. 96 00:05:45,281 --> 00:05:49,008 But that's exactly what happened, like, 97 00:05:49,008 --> 00:05:52,344 I can relate to it, cause I know that situation. 98 00:05:52,344 --> 00:05:54,258 They just don't got no respect for us, 99 00:05:54,258 --> 00:05:56,812 and they wonder why we don't have respect for them. 100 00:05:56,812 --> 00:05:59,472 And for them to just call him a name like that, 101 00:05:59,472 --> 00:06:03,530 it's just like, that's just crazy. 102 00:06:03,530 --> 00:06:07,389 [filmmaker?] Do you think that during stops that some police officers try to provoke, 103 00:06:07,389 --> 00:06:09,158 so they can justify an arrest? 104 00:06:09,158 --> 00:06:10,748 [officer] Of course they do. 105 00:06:10,748 --> 00:06:13,651 A lot of police officers be trying to set civilians off, 106 00:06:13,651 --> 00:06:17,266 and then once they start talking, start cursing, they can lock em up for anything. 107 00:06:17,266 --> 00:06:20,877 [officer] There was two minorities leaning against the wall, they weren't doing anything, 108 00:06:20,877 --> 00:06:25,021 and my sergeant ordered me to write them "blocking pedestrian traffic". 109 00:06:25,021 --> 00:06:27,759 If you're a certain ethnicity, standing on the corner, 110 00:06:27,759 --> 00:06:31,813 lieutenants, sergeants, they have no problem searching you, violating your rights, 111 00:06:31,813 --> 00:06:34,237 and racial profiling. 112 00:06:34,237 --> 00:06:37,549 There was one statement that the sergeant said about what he used to do. 113 00:06:37,549 --> 00:06:41,708 He used to stop a guy walkin down the street with baggy pants, his underwear hangin out, 114 00:06:41,708 --> 00:06:42,969 and he'd just stop him. 115 00:06:42,969 --> 00:06:46,944 He says "I know he's probably up to nothin', but I just stop him anyway, just to get a 250" 116 00:06:46,944 --> 00:06:50,978 There's this one cop that everybody in the neighbourhood knows, 117 00:06:50,978 --> 00:06:53,942 stops us like 3 times already, he was like now come here. 118 00:06:53,942 --> 00:06:59,193 So they got out the car, the threw him on the front of the car, 119 00:06:59,193 --> 00:07:02,940 I'm still walkin', he spun me around and punched me in my stomach, 120 00:07:02,940 --> 00:07:07,672 started just pattin us down, and just left us there. 121 00:07:08,681 --> 00:07:14,066 [commissioner] What we're trying to do is make certain that it's done as professionally as possible, 122 00:07:14,066 --> 00:07:19,081 that proper respect is shown, and is done according to the law. 123 00:07:19,219 --> 00:07:21,956 This goes all the way up, all the way up to commissioner's office, 124 00:07:24,519 --> 00:07:27,360 I say even the mayor's office where they're trying to be proactive and say 125 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:30,434 "look, we're stopping people, we're getting guns and drugs off the streets". 126 00:07:30,434 --> 00:07:34,168 But it's not. I think it's, of the 600,000 people that were stopped last year, 127 00:07:34,168 --> 00:07:38,387 only 1% of those that were stopped were carrying weapons. 128 00:07:49,312 --> 00:07:54,342 [clips from newscasts] The NYPD's controversial Stop And Frisk policy... 129 00:07:54,342 --> 00:08:02,975 Last year, New York police officers stopped and interrogated people nearly 686,000 times... 130 00:08:02,975 --> 00:08:08,213 ... a lawsuit raises serious questions about quotas, racial profiling, and constitutional rights... 131 00:08:08,397 --> 00:08:10,904 The public isn't aware of what's happening 132 00:08:10,904 --> 00:08:12,943 but everything is being looked at as far as numbers, 133 00:08:12,943 --> 00:08:14,988 and it's a numbers game, ok? 134 00:08:14,988 --> 00:08:16,269 What did you get last year? 135 00:08:16,269 --> 00:08:19,141 Well you have to match it and give me more this year. 136 00:08:29,615 --> 00:08:31,311 [tape recording] 137 00:09:37,907 --> 00:09:41,388 They're trying to keep all of this stuff quiet, 138 00:09:41,388 --> 00:09:45,142 so this is my proof that they're putting pressure on me to write summonses. 139 00:09:45,581 --> 00:09:49,437 Commanders are trying to be proactive, or show that they're being proactive, 140 00:09:49,437 --> 00:09:51,608 and here you have a system where people are told 141 00:09:51,608 --> 00:09:55,455 "get those numbers to where they should be, and you're gonna get your promotion." 142 00:09:55,717 --> 00:09:59,452 The commanding officer wants to become a deputy inspector, 143 00:09:59,452 --> 00:10:03,318 the executive officer wants to become a commanding officer, 144 00:10:03,318 --> 00:10:06,365 if you do well by keeping the arrests up and the summonses up, 145 00:10:06,365 --> 00:10:08,820 you will be promoted to the next rank. 146 00:10:08,820 --> 00:10:13,796 So they put pressure on the police officers to generate numbers and arrests. 147 00:10:19,315 --> 00:10:21,014 I mean let's be real, it is a quota. 148 00:10:21,014 --> 00:10:23,283 Nobody wants to call it that, but that's what it is. 149 00:10:23,283 --> 00:10:26,969 They call it a performance objective, they call it a goal, they can mask it however they want. 150 00:10:26,969 --> 00:10:29,549 It's a quota, and it does exist. 151 00:10:30,127 --> 00:10:32,513 Some of us under the stress make them up. 152 00:10:32,513 --> 00:10:37,089 Some of us under the stress stop innocent people and search them. 153 00:10:37,089 --> 00:10:40,783 And there are certain units out there that will just run around and stop everybody. 154 00:10:43,888 --> 00:10:47,953 What happens to the officer, if they don't do what the police department tells them to do 155 00:10:47,953 --> 00:10:49,283 as far as these quotas? 156 00:10:49,283 --> 00:10:50,360 They will come after you. 157 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:53,982 Come after you, meaning transfers, give you low evaluations. 158 00:10:53,982 --> 00:10:56,557 They give you unwanted assignments, 159 00:10:56,557 --> 00:11:00,821 put you in a post which is very dangerous, high crime, by yourself, in a corner. 160 00:11:00,821 --> 00:11:02,982 This is a form of retaliation. 161 00:11:02,982 --> 00:11:06,876 Basically, a change in tours, put you on the midnight, they make you look bad on paperwork 162 00:11:06,876 --> 00:11:09,966 and that paperwork with trail you for the rest of your police career. 163 00:11:09,966 --> 00:11:13,552 And knowing that your livelihood's at stake, you meet the quota. 164 00:11:14,622 --> 00:11:19,130 It does create this feeling of "hey listen I gotta get my numbers" 165 00:11:19,130 --> 00:11:21,981 When you put that pressure on the officer 166 00:11:21,981 --> 00:11:25,095 this us vs them mentality does exist. 167 00:11:28,924 --> 00:11:31,473 When I came into this police department I wanted to help people, 168 00:11:31,473 --> 00:11:34,053 but the civilian population are being hunted. 169 00:11:34,053 --> 00:11:38,742 Instead of being protected by us, they're being hunted, and we're being hated. 170 00:11:38,742 --> 00:11:41,284 The police department is pushing the new guys to be bounty hunters, 171 00:11:41,284 --> 00:11:43,106 and I use that word because that's exactly what it is: 172 00:11:43,106 --> 00:11:44,649 they're hunting. 173 00:11:44,649 --> 00:11:47,853 There's a lot of officers who are fed up and want to do something about it, 174 00:11:47,853 --> 00:11:50,219 and there's people who are scared. 175 00:11:50,835 --> 00:11:55,990 There's a lot of officers that would like to tell their story, but nobody wants to hear the truth. 176 00:11:55,990 --> 00:11:59,032 Nobody wants to hear the bad. 177 00:12:00,096 --> 00:12:04,781 You need police, but the police department needs to change things. 178 00:12:06,582 --> 00:12:09,527 At one point I did want to be a cop, to help people, 179 00:12:09,527 --> 00:12:13,735 and mostly just, like, to be able to wear a badge and a uniform, be proud of it. 180 00:12:13,735 --> 00:12:17,072 But now I feel like I'm not sure because they're not here to help people any more, 181 00:12:17,072 --> 00:12:21,310 they're just there to like, stop and humiliate them, make em feel bad. 182 00:12:23,018 --> 00:12:26,829 There's no excuses for the way they treated me. 183 00:12:27,578 --> 00:12:30,225 This one individual was thinkin about doin NYPD, 184 00:12:30,225 --> 00:12:33,171 the first thing I told him is "definitely not". 185 00:12:33,171 --> 00:12:38,610 This job, racial profiles, will force you to do things that you don't wanna do. 186 00:12:38,610 --> 00:12:40,973 We're supposed to be the best in the world? 187 00:12:40,973 --> 00:12:46,227 We're the best at making money, and we're the best at arresting and summonsing everybody.