De Blasio to reform 'stop and frisk' after New York drops appeal

New York City will reform the controversial police tactic known as "stop and frisk", as mayor Bill de Blasio follows through on a campaign pledge that played a key role in his victory in November.

The city filed court papers to drop an appeal - ordered by former mayor Michael Bloomberg - of a federal judge's ruling that the New York Police Department's use of the policy unconstitutional.

The city also announced that a court-appointed monitor would serve for three years to oversee reforms, although it did not lay out what specific changes would be made to policing.

After that three-year period, oversight would fall to the city's inspector-general, a position created last year that has not yet been filled.

Mr de Blasio said the move was "an extraordinary step forward . . . this puts us on a pathway to reform and one with real accountability."

Critics of stop and frisk policing, including Mr de Blasio and Bill Bratton, his newly appointed police commissioner, say it unfairly targeted minorities and drove a wedge between police and citizens.

"Instead of securing confidence . . . it has raised doubts of the police force in this city," Mr Bratton said on Thursday.

Mr de Blasio made his opposition to the stop and frisk policy a key plank in his mayoral campaign last year, creating an ad featuring his teenage son, Dante, that went viral.

Supporters of the policy, including Mr Bloomberg and his police chief, Ray Kelly, credited its use with contributing to historic drops in crime in recent years.

The ruling last year by Judge Shira Scheindlin found that the police had been "racially discriminatory" when conducting stops and searches of people suspected of committing or about to commit a crime.

Of the 4.4m people stopped between January 2004 and June 2012, more than 80 per cent were black or Hispanic, she said.

She ordered changes, including a court-appointed monitor and a pilot programme testing cameras to record stops. But those measures were put on hold while Mr Bloomberg's administration appealed her ruling.

Several unions representing police officers have filed motions opposing the dismissal of the appeal and are trying to continue the appeal themselves. Judges have not yet ruled on those moves.

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