Institute Intelligence, May 2025: Constitutionality of NYPD Stop-and-Frisks, Incubating Grassroots Policy Ideas
By Carla Sinclair, Senior Communications Associate, and Alisa Orlowsky, Communications Associate
Hello from Midtown Manhattan, where the Empire State Building across the street from the ISLG offices is shrouded in spring rainclouds. As May comes to a close, we're reflecting on the work we've brought to fruition this past month, as well as the projects currently deep in process with our partners across the city and country.
This work includes a years-in-the-making study on the constitutionality of NYPD practices, a data walkthrough of our recent deep dive on New York State's critical human services sector, and a call for students and nonprofits to join our inaugural voter education and engagement fellowship.
As every month, we're committed to bringing data, guidance, and support to our government and community partners, no matter what lies ahead.
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Advancing Justice
Are the NYPD's stop-and-frisk practices constitutional?
In 2013, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) ruled that stop and frisk practices employed by the NYPD were unconstitutional, violating the Fourth Amendment protections against search and seizure as well as the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protections under the law, due to the discriminatory nature of the stops.
A Monitor was installed to oversee compliance, and in 2021, CUNY ISLG was brought in to conduct a study using information captured on body-worn cameras (BWCs) to analyze whether, 10 years later, the NYPD was following the court’s mandates.
The CUNY ISLG team—comprising a team of retired New York State judges and dozens of researchers—analyzed a sample of 1,452 videos from over a million police encounters recorded by BWCs over a two-month period in 2022.
Some key findings:
Seventy-two percent of the stops were constitutional and 19 percent unconstitutional. The remaining 9 percent had either no consensus or insufficient information.
Unconstitutional stops were particularly prevalent among stops conducted by officers assigned to a Neighborhood Safety Team (NST), which are special units tasked with securing illegal guns. Thirty-five percent of stops were unconstitutional when an NST officer was present compared to 16 percent of stops without one.
Among all stops, 21 percent and 19 percent of the stops of Black and Hispanic individuals were rated as unconstitutional, respectively, compared to 11 percent of the stops of all other races.
NYPD supervisors rarely identified improper stops. Supervisors found the officers did not have the basis for a constitutional stop in only one percent of stops while judges found 10 percent of stops lacked a constitutional basis.
Optimizing Government & Institutions
Celebrating the 2024-2025 Kriegel Fellowship Graduation
Last month, 21 chiefs of staff and legislative office leaders from across all five boroughs and the Hudson Valley graduated from ISLG's Kriegel Fellowship for Public Service Leaders. Over the course of five months, Fellows met bi-weekly to establish community with their peers from every level of New York state and local government, as well as engage in professional development opportunities tailored to their unique roles.
One of this year’s graduating Fellows, Deputy Chief of Staff Brandon Jordan, reflected on the significance of being part of a peer-to-peer learning community as a legislative and public service leader, especially across levels of government.
“It’s so important to have a community of staffers from across legislative bodies, not just the Council, because you don't have many opportunities to see folks from the State bodies,” he said. “The only thing that really connects State and City officials is when your districts overlap or you see them at a local event, but that's it. Here, there's really an opportunity here to get to know each other.”
ICYMI: Researchers Break Down their Latest Study on New York’s Human Services Landscape—Including the Growing Wage Gaps
Last month, we released findings from a sweeping yet in-depth analysis of New York State’s human services workforce and its wages—learning that while sectors like childcare and home healthcare are among the state’s fastest growing, their average wages paid workers far below the cost of living. The study is an important step in quantifying the need for investment and laying out a roadmap to a more robust, sustainable, and effective public sector.
On May 19th, a team of our researchers, data scientists, and policy experts hosted a data walkthrough for nonprofit leaders, human services staff, policymakers, and the general public. Watch it below or on our website.
In the News: "Human services sector growing but wages stay stagnant" by Crystal Lewis in The Chief Leader
Promoting Opportunity
Investing in Policy Development at the Roots
In April, the Grassroots Policy Incubator (GPI) kicked off with three innovative grantees: The Flossy Organization, ICARE Coalition, and the Survivors Justice Project.
Recognizing that funding opportunities to incubate solutions to community problems for these often-small organizations are limited, ISLG, in partnership with the Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity, has launched a pilot program working to tackle those obstacles. By providing funding for three grassroots organizations to develop policy and programmatic ideas, the GPI aims to empower community-driven solutions to address a policy gap in each organization’s respective community.
Learn more about the GPI and meet the organizations.
Civic Engagement Fellowship: Seeking Rising CUNY Seniors & Bronx-Serving Organizations
Voter education and civic engagement are critical to making our local governments work for all communities. Our Civic Engagement Fellowship, an initiative between CUNY ISLG and the New York City Campaign Finance Board, is creating the next generation of civic leaders leading the charge and harnessing the power of community organizations to do it.
In this two-year, paid Fellowship for rising CUNY seniors, Fellows will be embedded within community-based organizations (CBOs) to inform, educate, and empower voters in their respective communities. While ISLG will pay and provide benefits for the Fellows, CBOs will mentor and supervise Fellows, working with them to build new and/or enhance existing civic engagement activities in their local communities. Beginning as a paid, full-time program in summer 2025, the Fellows will shift to part-time at their CBOs for the Fall and Spring semesters before returning to the CBO full-time after graduation in May 2026.
We’re seeking both rising CUNY seniors as well as Bronx-serving community organizations to participate in the program.
Fellowship: CUNY students entering their senior year Fall 2025, applications are open until June 1, 2025. Get more information and apply here.
Host organizations: Bronx-serving organizations can learn more about the program, what role CBOs will play, and available funds to support CBOs in the initiative in the request-for-proposals (RFP).
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