The New York Police Department violated the constitutional rights of tens of thousands of New Yorkers through its controversial stop-and-frisk policy, a judge ruled today. The NYPD’s practice of stopping and searching people not suspected of any crime—usually young minority men—has skyrocketed in the last decade. The judge ruled that the practice violates Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure, as well as the equal-protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. But the NYPD won’t have to end stop-and-frisk. Rather, the judge said the practice could continue under the oversight of an outside lawyer, who will make sure the department obeys the Constitution.
