Here at Bushwick Daily, we are big fans of the guerilla-style civic actions of Animal New York. Let’s just ponder the apology letter the NY Post should have issued after publishing a series of misinformation in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing. That was excellent. Now, Animal has come up with awesome Stop Frisking Kits created by artist Jay Shells. Here is how it works:
In Bushwick, any anti-stop-and-frisk action has a special meaning. 83rd Precinct is the prime stop-and-frisk territory according to the stats published by the Center for Constitutional Rights. Of the 15,021 stop and frisks in Bushwick in 2011, 87.87% of the people stopped were black or Latino. Blacks and Latinos also had a higher likelihood of being subjected to the “use of force” than whites when stopped. And most of these stops reveal that the person is completely innocent: 86.31% are dismissed without an arrest or summons. When it comes to finding contraband or a weapon, stop-and-frisk in Bushwick is even less successful: 1.36% of the stops result in finding contraband and 1.21% of the stops recover a weapon.
Animal’s Stop Frisking Kits came just in time because today the City Council is again voting on the Community Safety Act, which was initially vetoed by Mayor Bloomberg in late July. The Community Safety Act has great potential to bring permanent improvements to the way the NYPD handles the stop-and-frisk program, not to mention other aspects of its general practices. Read more about it in our extensive article here.
Free Stop Frisking Kits can be picked up at several locations throughout the city, but most importantly at Alaska Bar in East Williamsburg/Bushwick.