The Associated Press has done a study that concludes the rate of stop-and-frisks in the United States is increasing, not decreasing, with the lower crime rate. It shouldn't be a surprise that black and Latino men are disproportionately targeted:
Police in major U.S. cities stop and question more than a million people each year — a sharply higher number than just a few years ago. Most are black and Hispanic men. Many are frisked, and nearly all are innocent of any crime, according to figures gathered by The Associated Press.
And the numbers are rising at the same time crime rates are dropping.
Excessive stop-and-frisks contribute to the poisonous climate between law enforcement and the communities most hurt by crime. It's counterproductive, and in the long run it probably makes crimes harder to solve because people in the community see the police as antagonists rather than protectors.
One of the more inane points made after Barack Obama's election was the suggestion that his presidency would have some sort of magical effect on the isolated black urban poor, and reduce crime in those neighborhoods. That hasn't happened, but the flipside is that he hasn't fundamentally changed the way people think about race and crime.
-- A. Serwer
