NYPD failing to make progress on lawful stop and frisks, report says

In a bluntly worded report, a special federal court monitor found the NYPD has failed to make significant progress in complying with a 2013 ruling that required the department to carry out lawful stop and frisks.

The report for 2025, released late Tuesday by the monitor, attorney Mylan L. Denerstein and sent to Manhattan federal Judge AnaLisa Torres, said the NYPD is plagued by problems in the supervision of officers who aren’t making lawful stop and frisks and are underreporting such activity. In essence, a stop and frisk is considered legal if a police officer believes a crime has or is about to be committed.

"This is not the year-end report that I had hoped to submit to the Court," wrote Denerstein, who has been the court appointed monitor for four years. "I hope this serves as a wake-up call that the NYPD must comply with the Constitution. The residents of NYC deserve no less and there should not be a permanent monitor."

Denerstein is the second special monitor appointed after former Manhattan federal Judge Shira Scheindlin in 2013 ruled  the NYPD had engaged in unconstitutional stop and frisks affecting minorities. Scheindlin proposed various remedies, including appointing the monitor to supervise department actions aimed at fixing the problems with stop and frisks. The first monitor, Peter Zimroth, died in 2021.

From a high of about 980,000 stop and frisks in 2012, such activity has dropped to no more than 30,000 in recent years, with statistics showing the majority of the stops involved Black and Hispanic people.

In addition to poor supervision by NYPD sergeants and lieutenants, problems found by Denerstein included little or no discipline for officers, supervisors and commanders for unlawful stop and frisks, as well as unlawful searches. Denerstein said there was a lack of discipline for officers who underreported stop and frisks.

"Underreporting remains problematic with almost one-third of encounters either not reported or improperly categorized," the report stated.

An NYPD spokesman didn’t address the specifics of the report. But in a statement said: "The NYPD is committed to upholding the constitutional rights of everyone, no matter the circumstances ... and remain focused on achieving compliance [with the law]."

Denerstein also highlighted an apparent problem with the way the Civilian Complaint Review Board investigated complaints of racial discrimination and bias-based policing, apparently involving stop and frisk activity. 

In October, Denerstein said, the city noted the CCRB found an error in how the police watchdog agency applied a legal standard in those cases. A CCRB spokesperson said the error occurred in the way its bias policing cases, which have a different legal standard, were tracked, prompting the board to dismiss them.

The monitor’s report highlighted the "ComplianceStat" initiative by the NYPD, which appears to have had some success — mostly in South Brooklyn commands —.in holding high-level police supervisors accountable for lapses by officers in stop and frisk procedures.

ComplianceStat was started by former NYPD Chief of Department John Chell in 2024. In an interview Wednesday, Chell said he started the program because he was fed up with supervisors "kicking the can down the road" and not holding officers accountable for lapses in lawful stop and frisks, as well as reporting activity.

Chell said he sometimes reassigned borough supervisors who were asleep at the switch and disbanded one public safety team for not adhering to proper procedures on stops.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.