Newark Police Department issues July statistics for stop-and-frisk a month after issuing groundbreaking transparency directive
NEWARK – A month after the Newark Police Department adopted strong transparency standards regarding the tracking and reporting of “stop-and-frisk” statistics, the ACLU-NJ welcomes the first batch of data on the searches taking place in Newark and looks forward to future analysis. The reports offer valuable information, such as the number of stops per precinct and demographic information of those searched, yet they do not currently include detailed information about the reasons for stops or stops of Latinos.
ACLU-NJ Executive Director Udi Ofer issues the following statement:
“The ACLU-NJ commends the Newark Police Department for issuing, for the first time in its history, public data on the use of stop-and-frisk in Newark. Stop-and-frisk is an intrusive practice that should be used carefully and only when there is reasonable suspicion of a crime. This data offers an important look at who is being stopped-and-frisked in our community and why. Given that we have only one month’s worth of data, it is too early to draw any conclusions from the data. We do look forward to working with the Police Director to fill in some of the gaps in the data, such as information on the impact of stop-and-frisk on Newark’s Latino community, the reasons behind the stops, and data on when stops lead to frisks and searches.”
