NYC: Shootings Increase After Stop And Frisk Discontinued

A quick story about ending stop and frisk in the bad neighborhoods of New York City and the possible results, shootings have increased...... 

PERVAIZ SHALLWANI
June 25, 2014 9:25 p.m. ET NYPD Studies Frisk-Decline Consequences

Review to Probe Uptick in Violence After Stop-and-Frisk Cutback

The New York Police Department is analyzing years of data to determine if the decline in the number of stop, question and frisks is having an impact on crime in the city, Commissioner William Bratton said Wednesday

The study comes as overall crime continues to decrease, but as the department grapples with an uptick this year in violence, particularly shootings, in certain neighborhoods.
"We have a very comprehensive analysis under way right now," Mr. Bratton said after an unrelated event at police headquarters. "At this juncture, we really don't know. Once that study is completed over the next several weeks, we'll have a better idea of that." 

Mr. Bratton has said in the past that he doesn't believe there is any correlation between the decreasing number of stops and shooting increases, but ordered the study anyway.
A law-enforcement official said the commissioner ordered the study earlier this week during a weekly meeting with NYPD three-star chiefs and top officials to discuss crime numbers. 

The NYPD is laying out its annual plan to deal with summer crime. Precincts that have been plagued by gun violence will be flooded with new recruits who graduate on Monday.
The official, who has direct knowledge of the meeting, said Mr. Bratton was concerned about the recent uptick in shootings and went around the room asking for solutions.
Unsatisfied with the answers, he ordered a study that looks at noticeable trends contributing to the uptick and if there is any correlation to the drop in 250 reports—the form officers fill out after conducting a stop. 

Some criminologists welcomed comprehensive analysis.
With the decreasing number of stops, "one should expect some increase in crime numbers," said Richard Rosenthal, a criminology professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, who published a 2014 study that said it was difficult to determine the relationship between stops and crime. 

"Crime has not shot up" citywide, he added, "so that suggests to me that the relationship between crime and stop-and-frisk may be pretty weak." 

The stops are a controversial tactic that Mayor Bill de Blasio has promised to change.
A federal court judge found that the NYPD was unconstitutionally using tactic to target minorities, particularly African-American and Hispanic men. The court installed a monitor to oversee changes and the decision is pending approval. 

The tactic's use peaked at more than 686,000 stops citywide in 2011 under former Commissioner Raymond Kelly, before it began significantly decreasing in the years after.
According to most recently available quarterly reports, police officers conducted 14,261 stops from Jan. 1 to March 31 of this year, compared with 99,788 for the same period in 2013, according to the NYPD. 

"Twenty years of crime data make it clear that stop-and-frisk is not the key to making our city safer," said Christopher Dunn, the New York Civil Liberties Union associate legal director. 

According crime numbers compiled through Sunday, the NYPD has received 48,754 reports for major crimes across the city—a 2.5% decrease from the same period last year. The number of shooting incidents has increased 11%.
A particular cause for concern is the increase in shootings in recent weeks, police officials said. 

In the past 28 days through Sunday, shooting incidents increased to 114 from 98, a 16% increase from the same period last year.

 Learn more about part of the problem, teen 'crews
and the video from the story follows

Teen 'Crews' Linked to 40% of NYC Shootings

NEW YORK May 1, 2014 (AP)

By JAKE PEARSON and JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press

There are more than 300 of them in New York — violent crews of dozens of 12- to 20-year-olds with names such as Very Crispy Gangsters, True Money Gang and Cash Bama Bullies.

Police say these groups, clustered around a particular block or housing project, are responsible for about 40 percent of the city's shootings, with most of that violence stemming from the smallest of disses on the street, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

"It's like belonging to an evil fraternity," said Inspector Kevin Catalina, commander of the New York Police Department's gang division. "A lot of it is driven by nothing: A dispute over a girl or a wrong look or a perceived slight."

The trend of smaller, younger crews has also been seen in Chicago and Northeast cities over the last few years as police have cracked down on bigger, more traditional gangs, experts said. While the Bloods, Crips and Latin Kings still exist, operating such money-making schemes as drug dealing, their members are usually older and understand the timeworn mantra of organized crime: violence is bad for business.

Not so for the crews, whose recklessness prompted former Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly in 2012 to launch an initiative to confront the crews dubbed Operation Crew Cut.

Investigators now focus on gathering intelligence about specific crews — understanding their activities, allegiances and feuds which they glean through traditional street policing and trolling of social media sites, cell phone photos and even recorded jailhouse calls.

Police have also stepped up arrests of the most active crew members. In Manhattan, prosecutors set up an internal email alert system that notifies them when crew member are arrested, even on minor charges, and provides beyond-the-rap-sheet details for bail arguments. The prosecutor might mention that the person was a suspect in another crime or had made threats on Facebook, for instance.

In a recent case in Harlem, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. says a 2009 killing kindled years of vendetta attacks, including three killings and 30 shootings. Sixty-three people were rounded up, and at least 62 entered guilty pleas, including crew members so young that one told another to "mob up" after school.

"The evidence was very powerful," said Robert Anesi, who represented a 19-year-old who pleaded guilty to attempted murder and conspiracy charges in the case last week. "They had such access to social media and they knew who the players were."

NYPD statistics show gang arrests are up citywide nearly 14 percent from 2013 — and more than 28 percent from two years ago. Shooting incidents citywide are about the same as they were last year, with 282 recorded so far, and are down by nearly 23 percent from two years ago.

Still, crew-related violence persists despite record dips in overall crime in New York City over the last few years. The most notable recent case came in March when investigators say a 14-year-old member of the Stack Money Goons shot a .357 revolver at a rival member of the Twan Family on a crowded bus in Brooklyn. The bullet instead killed an immigrant father who was working two jobs to support his family.

"When you ask young adults, 'Why? Why did you shoot that young man?' Probably 80 percent of the time the answer is: He disrespected me," said Kai Smith, an ex-con-turned-businessman who runs a gang-diversion program in city high schools