New Philly Stop-And-Frisk Report Shows 35 Percent Decrease In 2016
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The city released its latest report on the Philadelphia Police Department's use of stop and frisk.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross said, "We still have a long ways to go, we fully acknowledge that, but we have made significant progress."
Ross was joined by the Mayor, City Commissioner and Civil rights attorneys to announce the newest statistics on stop-and-frisk.
Philadelphia Police made 35 percent fewer pedestrian stops in 2016 than in 2015.
They also recorded nearly 79,000 fewer unlawful stops, that is stops that lacked reasonable suspicion.
Attorney David Rudovsky said, "We are still faced with 35,000 people a year being stopped without reasonable suspicion."
Rudovsky has been monitoring the city's compliance with a federal court decree over the past five years.
He says when they started half the pedestrian stops were unlawful, today only a quarter of the stops fall in that category, but the majority of those stopped are still African American.
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Abul Aliy Muhammad and Shan Akilah are co-founders of the Black and Brown workers collective, and they've criticized the Kenney Administration for failing to end stop and frisk, they reviewed Tuesday's report.
Muhammad said, "Just walking down the street I was probably with friends and I fit the description of someone they were looking for, it did not feel good."
Akilah added "A decrease in numbers is notable, I don't think it's enough."
New data tracking officer accountability and increased oversight are helping the numbers to go down, and the trend is expected to continue because Mayor Kenney says properly executing stop-and-frisk is a top priority.
"My goal is that no young black male, going to school or going to work is being stopped because of the color of his skin," said Kenney.
The ACLU is currently compiling data on the numbers of pedestrian stops based on race, that report is expected in two weeks.
