THE COUNCIL OF THE

CITY OF NEW YORK

July 17, 2014

Senator Ruben Diaz
New York State Senate
909 Rogers Place
Bronx, NY 10459

Dear Senator Diaz:

We write to express our strong disagreement and disappointment with your recent comments
regarding stop-and-frisk and gun violence. Many of the statements you made were factually
inaccurate. As policymakers, we have a responsibility, not to fearmonger or play politics, but
provide sound information to the public and contribute towards actual solutions to address public
safety. Your statements linking the increase in shootings halfway through the year to the
decreased use of stop-and-frisk, and crediting the use of the police practice during the
Bloomberg administration are not supported by existing data.

Our understanding of the underlying data is:
1. The Stop and Frisk policy was not established under the administration of Mayor
Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly as you indicate. Its a police practice that has
been used for decades, and legal restrictions were clarified by The Supreme Court in
Terry v. Ohio in 1968. Similarly, Mayor de Blasio did not end the policy it continues
today, although with far less use than the record-high numbers of several years ago.

2. The number of stops had declined during the last two years of the Bloomberg
administration when the number of shooting victims was also at its lowest during
Bloombergs tenure.

3. Over the 12 years of the Bloomberg administration, stop-and-frisk had no clear impact on
shootings, with the number of shooting victims remaining relatively unchanged through
2011 during a near 600% increase in the use of stop-and-frisk.

When stop-and-frisk was at its highest level in city history in 2011 with nearly
700,000 stops, the number of shooting victims was at one of its highest levels during
the Bloomberg administration.


THE COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF NEW YORK

There was no consistent relationship between the use of stop-and-frisk and shootings
throughout the Bloomberg administration, as the number of shooting victims often
increased as the use of stop-and-frisk increased, and vice versa.

The number of shootings in the first six months of this year is still below that of the
same period in 2011 the year stop-and-frisk was used the most ever in our city,
nearly 700,000 times.

4. There is actually not a spike in crime as you assert. Crime numbers are actually down
in New York City.

As young men of color and elected officials who represent communities detrimentally impacted
by both stop-and-frisk and gun violence, we are disappointed that you would express support for
the abusive use of stop-and-frisk that violated the rights of hundreds of thousands of New
Yorkers. Your assertions that the excessive and abusive use of the police practice protected the
public from gun violence are without evidence. The NYPDs own data contradicts your claims,
and demonstrates it had no measurable positive impact on protecting public safety from gun
violence.

While we all want safety in our communities, it is our job to provide real solutions for our
constituents. The use of stop-and-frisk under the previous administration clearly exceeded those
constraints and the legal limitations governed by The Supreme Court in Terry v. Ohio. A Federal
court ruled just that in the Floyd v. City of New York case.

We hope that you will more closely consider the facts on this issue before making public
statements in the future.

Sincerely,

Council Member Ritchie Torres


Council Member Rafael Espinal



THE COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF NEW YORK





Council Member Antonio Reynoso



Council Member Donovan Richards


Council Member Carlos Menchaca