Judge Orders Philadelphia Police Department Establish Pilot Program To Curb Stop-And-Frisk
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A federal judge has ordered the Philadelphia Police Department to establish a pilot program to curb stop-and-frisks in the city. The program will begin on Aug. 1 in the city's 14th District in Northwest Philadelphia.
The order stems from an ongoing legal challenge to stop-and-frisk as being "racially biased."
During the pilot, 14th District officers can no longer detain people seen committing a petty crime, like smoking marijuana.
"Spitting, loitering, one of these kinds of things, the officer is supposed to walk up to the person and say 'Would you stop that? Would you move along?'" said Mary Catherine Roper, deputy legal director of ACLU of Pennsylvania.
Only people who refuse the request would be subject to further action by the officer.
Data from the last two quarters of 2019 showed 16% of stops and 32% of frisks occurred without reasonable suspicion that the person committed a crime.
