Despite repeated efforts at reform, police departments continue to target communities of color and subject them to dramatically higher rates of stops, search, and arrest. Recent studies show that after three decades of increasing incarceration rates, more than one in every 100 adults in the nation is now behind bars.

The numbers for African Americans are especially disturbing: for Black males between the ages of 20 and 34, one in nine is incarcerated.  Similarly, Latinos are incarcerated at rates nearly double that of Whites.  Though a host of factors explain these startling disparities, one force that cannot be ignored is the role of the War on Drugs and the realities of racial profiling.  While African Americans represent 14% of the nation’s monthly drug users, they represent 37% of those arrested for drug offenses.  Even though African Americans use drugs at rates similar to Whites, Blacks are six times more likely to be stopped than Whites, they are 2.5 times more likely to be arrested, and they serve overwhelmingly longer sentences.

In New York City, studies reveal that not only are African Americans disproportionately stopped, but the vast majority is stopped without justification. Specifically, eight out of nine African American pedestrians and drivers stopped by police in New York City are let go after searches reveal that they have done nothing wrong.

Similarly, multiple studies of traffic stops in several states confirm that even though African Americans are stopped at dramatically higher rates (in Maryland, 70% of stops and searches are conducted on African Americans even though they comprise only 17% of the population), African Americans are no more likely than Whites to be found with contraband.

Put simply, racial profiling does not work.

Historically, LDF has been concerned with the intersection of these issues and, in the last year, has been focusing on one prominent example in New York City. More than a decade ago, then Mayor Rudolph Giuliani spearheaded the NYPD’s shift to a new law enforcement method known as Order Maintenance, or Broken Windows policing. This model emphasizes proactive and aggressive enforcement of laws circumscribing misdemeanor ‘quality of life’ offenses.

Consistent with the NYPD’s change in priorities, state law was expanded to privatize the lobbies and previously public hallways of public housing buildings to enable officers to patrol buildings and arrest people for trespassing. Officers began conducting “vertical sweeps,” walking through entire buildings and stopping everyone they encountered in the halls to ask for identification and verification of their residency or otherwise lawful status in the building.

Although the program has existed for over a decade, the rate of trespass arrests has surged dramatically in the last few years and has focused entirely on communities of color and the poor.  A review of cases between 2004 and 2007 reveals a 30% increase in trespass arrests.  An unacceptable number of these arrests are “unlawful arrests of people who seem to be caught in a trap while going about their everyday lives in a perfectly legal way.”  People v. Ruiz, 2007 WL 1428689, *1 (Bx Sup. Ct. May 15, 2007).  Not surprisingly, an overwhelming majority of those arrested for trespass are people of color.

In some boroughs, upwards of 75% of those arrested do not have guns, drugs, or other contraband; instead, the top charge is trespass.  According to one recent report, 70% of residents in one development had been repeatedly stopped by police officers simply coming and going around their own homes. A local judge appropriately characterized the situation as “dreadful.” One resident told an LDF staff attorney that he had grown to fear the police officers more than he did the drug dealers.

In response to these concerns, LDF has partnered with the Special Litigation Unit of the Legal Aid Society of New York (LAS) to investigate the issue and evaluate potential litigation. Together, LDF and LAS have been meeting with community members, community leaders, and participants in the system to assess the fairness and effectiveness of vertical patrols. People living in public housing and in other poor communities deserve to feel safe and comfortable in their own homes. Yet they should not be forced to sacrifice the constitutional protections of the Fourth Amendment to enjoy that sanctity, comfort and safety.