NYPD agrees to delete certain stop and frisk info

The NYPD will purge from its computers the names and addresses of people who were stopped and frisked by police under an agreement reached Wednesday with the New York Civil Liberties Union.

The city agreed to delete the names as part of the settlement of a May 2010 class-action federal lawsuit by two New York City residents alleging that their personal information remained in police computers after they were stopped and frisked and cleared of any wrongdoing.

A July 2010 change in state law bars the NYPD from keeping names and personal information in a database of those stopped and not arrested or issued a summons or violation. But about 500,000 names of those who had encounters with police prior and since the change remained in the computers, said Christopher Dunn, an NYCLU lawyer involved in the case. "Between the 2010 law and this settlement, all the names in the database will be removed, and no more names will go in the database in the future," he said.

Dunn said the lawsuit was commenced because the NYPD didn't want to seal the database to protect names of those who were arrested or received a summons but were later cleared. State criminal law requires sealing of records of people whose cases are dismissed or lead to an acquittal.

Janice Casey Silverberg, an assistant corporation counsel for the city, said in a statement that the NYPD had been observing the 2010 law.

"Today's settlement is consistent with the 2010 law that the NYPD has been fully compliant with. The law made the need for the database moot," Silverberg said.

Under the terms of the settlement, the city has 90 days to delete the names and personal information.

The city will be able to keep information about the sex and race of those stopped and frisked in a database, Dunn said. The NYPD compiles that information to monitor stop and frisk activity.

The city signed off on the settlement without admitting wrongdoing or violation of anyone's constitutional rights. The city will pay $10,000 to the NYCLU to satisfy any claims, the settlement stated.

The settlement has no effect on the pending federal lawsuit over the constitutionality of NYPD stop and frisk activity.