• NYPD stop-and-frisk trial puts nation's biggest police force in spotlight

    Allison Joyce / Getty Images

    People participate in a demonstration against the city's stop-and-frisk searches in lower Manhattan near federal court on March 18, 2013 in New York City, the day hearings began.

    By Elizabeth Chuck, Staff Writer, NBC News

    A federal trial is pulling back the veil on the New York City Police Department's use of the controversial stop-and-frisk tactic.

    The nonjury trial, which begins its second week Wednesday, involves a lawsuit from four men who argue the NYPD stops a disproportionate number of black and Hispanic men without cause. The suit seeks to reform stop-and-frisk, which is legal under a 1968 Supreme Court decision.

    The NYPD has made about 5 million stops in the past 10 years, and most of them have involved young black and Hispanic men, according to The Associated Press. Only about 10 percent were arrested, with many of the rest left feeling wronged and humiliated. The four plaintiffs contend they were only targeted because of their race.

    New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly have hailed stop-and-frisk as a lifesaver and crime deterrent.

    At the heart of the trial is a secretly recorded phone conversation between NYPD officer Pedro Serrano and his supervisor that questions who are the "right people" to stop on the streets, according to The Associated Press. Serrano said he decided to use his phone to record his boss because his supervisors believed he had tallied too few arrests, summonses, and stop, question and frisk reports, known as "250s".

    "So, who are the right people?" asks Serrano.

    "Depends where you are," answers Deputy Inspector Christopher McCormack.

    "So you're saying what? Summons everybody for whatever reason?" Serrano asks.

    "No, see, listen to me. Understand this. All right? I don't summons people for any reason, all right," McCormack responds. "We go out there and we summons people and we '250' people, the right people, at the right time, the right location."


    "The right people, at the right time, the location" is a thinly-veiled way of mandating officers to stop minorities, lawyers for the four men who have sued police argue. 

    McCormack, the supervisor, is expected to testify later in the trial, according to The AP.

    Officers deny racial profiling
    At least three police officers have testified in pretrial testimony and will be called to testify in trial, according to The New York Times. All three, who are officers in Brooklyn precincts, denied engaging in racial profiling. 

    “We can’t just stop anyone for the sake of stopping a person,” Officer Edgar Gonzalez said, reported The Times. 

    The officers said they were conducting about 10 street stops a week, making them  “three of the four N.Y.P.D. officers who recorded the highest number of stop, question and frisk encounters,” according to legal papers, The Times said.

    “If someone is in the middle of a dark street, staring into the car and then when we drive by, they start ripping up garbage bags,” another one of the officers, Michael Noboa, said.

    “That would give me reasonable suspicion to conduct a stop, question” and maybe frisk, he said, reported The Times.

    Since the trial began last Monday, various men have testified that they were stopped and frisked by officers while doing mundane tasks such as getting milk from a grocery store or going to a party, reported The AP. They said they weren't doing anything wrong, and felt victimized.

    Among them was 18-year-old Nicholas Peart, who said officers swarmed him with their weapons out, and told him and his two relatives to get down on the ground on the night of his 18th birthday. Officers were looking for robbery suspects who they thought resembled Peart and his relatives, The AP reported. Peart didn't think police had enough reason to stop him.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

  • 'America's toughest sheriff' trial: Arizona deputy says he risked his life for illegal immigrant

    Joshua Lott / Reuters

    A protester holds a sign with a picture of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, during day one of Apraio's and his sheriff's department civil rights trial in Phoenix, Arizona on July 19.

    By NBC News wire services

    PHOENIX, Ariz. -- A deputy from a controversial Arizona sheriff's office countered accusations of racial profiling on Thursday, telling a court that he had risked his life to rescue a Latino illegal immigrant from armed kidnappers.

    Carlos Rangel told a civil trial alleging Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his office engage in racially profiling Latinos that, at the behest of federal immigration police, he went undercover to play the role of the immigrant's relative to meet kidnappers, one of whom pointed a gun at him.

    The kidnappers were arrested and the immigrant was released.

    Asked by defense lawyer Tom Liddy if he was an "anti-Hispanic bigot," Rangel answered: "No. I am not."

    The Justice Department suit accuses Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio of systematically violating the civil rights of Latinos. NBC's Pete Williams reports.

    Arpaio, who styles himself "America's toughest sheriff," and his office are defendants in a class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Phoenix that will test whether police can target illegal immigrants without racially profiling Hispanic citizens and legal residents.

    The 80-year-old lawman testified this week he was against racial profiling and denied his office arrested people because of the color of their skin.

    The case will serve as a precursor to a civil rights lawsuit filed by the federal government, which is much broader.

    Feds sue Arizona's Sheriff Joe Arpaio, alleging racial profiling

    The plaintiffs, a group of Latinos, say they were discriminated against during sweeps to flush out criminals and illegal immigrants in Maricopa County, which includes the metropolitan Phoenix area. During such sweeps, sheriff's deputies flood an area of a city — in some cases, heavily Latino areas — over several days to seek out traffic violators and arrest other offenders.

    'Dark-skinned people'
    The group accused Arpaio of launching some sweeps based on emails and letters from residents who complained that "dark-skinned people" were congregating in a given area or speaking Spanish. The group says deputies in the sweeps pulled over Hispanics without probable cause, making the stops only to inquire about the immigration status of the people in the vehicles.

    The sheriff has said that people are stopped only if authorities have probable cause to believe they have committed crimes and that deputies later find many are illegal immigrants.

    Arpaio's office maintained that illegal immigrants accounted for 57 percent of the 1,500 people arrested in the 20 sweeps conducted since January 2008, according to figures provided by the sheriff's department, which hasn't conducted any such patrols since October.

    The sheriff, who is seeking re-election to a sixth term in November, has been a lightning rod for controversy over his aggressive enforcement of immigration laws in the state, as well as his investigation into the validity of President Barack Obama's birth certificate.

    Arizona was in the news last month when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a key element of the state's crackdown on illegal immigrants requiring police to investigate those they stop and suspect of being in the country illegally.

    Arpaio faces a separate, broader lawsuit filed by the U.S. Justice Department in May, alleging systematic profiling, sloppy and indifferent police work and a disregard for minority rights.

    The civil lawsuit was lodged in the name of Manuel Ortega Melendres, one of five Hispanics who say they were stopped by deputies because they were Latino, which Arpaio denies. It was later opened to all Latino drivers stopped since 2007.

    Arizona Sheriff Arpaio under scrutiny in racial profiling case

    Melendres, a Mexican tourist on a valid visa in a truck was pulled over ostensibly because the white driver was speeding.

    Rangel, who arrested Melendres, was asked by plaintiffs' counsel if he had questioned the driver. He told the court he had no grounds to investigate the driver.

    When asked by Liddy if he had ever racially profiled anyone while working at the sheriff's office, Rangel, a 13-year veteran of the force, replied: "No".

    In later testimony, a Hispanic woman who is a U.S. citizen told the court she was pulled over by a sheriff's deputy in 2009 on suspicion she had drugs, alcohol and weapons in her car as she drove home from studying at a Phoenix valley university.

    Despite telling the deputy she was pregnant, Lorena Escamilla said, she was thrown roughly onto the back seat of his patrol car. A subsequent search of her car did not find any drugs. While she was cited for failure to produce identification and not having insurance, charges against her were dropped.

    McJail? Sheriff's 'Tent City' gets McDonald's-like number 'served' sign

    Escamilla said she later filed a charge of assault with Phoenix police department against the deputy and has since been fearful of being pulled over by the officer.

    Also testifying was a Hispanic mother who was in a vehicle with a group of Boy Scouts that was pulled over in 2009 by a deputy for speeding while returning from the Grand Canyon.

    Diona Solis, who is also a U.S. citizen, said the deputy was "rude" and "mocking" and unnecessarily requested identification from the boys in the car aged 8 to 11, among them her son.

    "The boys were minors ... I thought it was unreasonable to ask them for IDs ... they hadn't done anything wrong," she said.

    Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

     

    More content from NBCNews.com:

    Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

     

  • Feds sue Arizona's Sheriff Joe Arpaio, alleging racial profiling

    Matt York / AP

    Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

    By Pete Williams, NBC News justice correspondent

    Escalating a long-running battle with the outspoken sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, the Justice Department on Thursday sued him, his office and the county over civil rights issues involving racial profiling.


    "The police are supposed to protect and serve our communities, not divide them. This is an abuse of power case," said Tom Perez, the head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

    "If you look Latino, you are fair game," he said.

    The county has refused to impose a program, proposed by the Obama administration, that would train deputies on how to make traffic stops without improperly targeting Latinos. "They're telling me how to run my organization. I'm not going to give up my authority to the federal government," Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Wednesday before the lawsuit was filed.

    The Justice Department claims that since 2006, Maricopa County sheriff's officers unfairly have targeted Latinos for traffic stops -- unlawfully detaining, searching and arresting people, many of whom turn out to be US citizens or legal residents.

    The lawsuit claims that the Sheriff's Office discriminates against jail inmates who have trouble speaking English. Commands are issued only in English, and when prisoners who don't understand them fail to comply, entire areas of a jail are put in lockdown, inciting "obvious hostility," Perez said.

    He said Latino jail inmates are also forced to sign English-language legal documents in which they forfeit key legal protections.

    A third category of improper conduct, the lawsuit says, involves retaliation by the Sheriff's Office against perceived critics, including judges, lawyers, and community leaders.

    "They have been subject to actions designed to silence and punish them, including wrongful arrests and baseless lawsuits," Perez said.

    More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

    Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

  • FBI: Conn. cops behaved like ‘bullies with badges’

    By Jonathan Dienst, Joe Valiquette and Shimon Prokupecz, NBCNewYork.com

    Updated at 1:13 p.m. ET:

    The three officers and one sergeant on the East Haven Police Department accused of assaulting Latino suspects and residents while on patrol “behaved like bullies with badges,” an FBI investigator told NBC News on Tuesday.

    FBI agents arrested the four men, including the president of the local police union, on charges they terrorized individuals and drummed up false reports to cover up abuses in a Connecticut suburb where a federal probe uncovered episodes of misery inflicted on the Latino community. 

    “The four police officers charged today allegedly formed a cancerous cadre that routinely deprived East Haven residents of their civil rights,” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Janice K. Fedarcyk told NBC News.  “The public should not need protection from those sworn to protect and serve.  In simple terms, these defendants behaved like bullies with badges.”

    Read complete coverage at NBCConnecticut.com

    The East Haven Police Department has been under scrutiny for months amid allegations some officers mistreat people of color.

    “The serious crimes alleged in the indictment undermine the public’s trust in the fine men and women of law enforcement who serve the people bravely and with integrity every day,” U.S. Attorney David Fein told NBC News.  

    The indictment alleges more than 30 overt acts by the four defendants – Dennis Spaulding, David Cari, Jason Zullo and Sgt. John Miller -- and others in furtherance of the conspiracy, including:

    • A July 2007 incident during which Miller and another officer used unreasonable force against a victim in the vicinity of the Saltonstall Parkway;   
    • A November 2008 incident during which Spaulding used excessive force against an individual in the parking lot of a Latino-owned restaurant and bar. Spaulding then arrested the individual under false pretenses to cover-up the assault and prepared a false report to justify the false arrest;
    • A January 2009 incident in the same parking lot during which Spaulding and Zullo arrested three individuals under false pretenses and with Miller and Cari present. Zullo then used excessive force against two of the individuals in the EHPD station, and Spaulding prepared a false report to justify the arrests;
    • A February 2009 incident during which Spaulding, Cari and other officers illegally searched a vehicle parked outside of a Latino-owned grocery store. Inside the store, Cari and Spaulding, under Miller’s supervision, then arrested a religious leader, who is also an advocate for Latinos, on false pretenses. At Miller’s direction, Cari, Spaulding, Zullo and others conducted an illegal search of the back room of the store in an effort to unlawfully seize the store’s video recording equipment. In the days following the arrest, Cari drafted various false versions of an arrest report to cover up the false arrest of the religious leader. In the months following the incident, Spaulding engaged in behavior intended to intimidate the religious leader and others;
    • A January 2010 incident during which Miller used excessive force against an individual in the vicinity of Thompson Avenue, and then reprimanded a fellow officer who witnessed the assault and reported it to a supervisory sergeant;
    • Intimidation and harassment of East Haven Police Commissioners who were attempting to investigate the arrest of the religious leader and other alleged misconduct involving Miller; Intimidation of EHPD personnel, including threatening statements about an EHPD officer who was believed to be cooperating in an investigation of EHPD.

    Earlier:

    The FBI arrested three police officers and one sergeant in Connecticut for allegedly mistreating Hispanic suspects and residents while on patrol, law enforcement officials said. 

    Three East Haven police officers and the sergeant were taken into custody early Tuesday and are expected to be arraigned in federal court in Bridgeport later on the civil rights-related charges, the officials said.

    The officers were identified as Dennis Spaulding, David Cari, Jason Zullo and Sgt. John Miller.

    Connecticut U.S. Attorney spokesman Tom Carson confirmed the arrests and said the charges would be outlined at a news conference in Bridgeport later Tuesday morning.

    The East Haven Police Department has been under scrutiny for months amid allegations some officers mistreat people of color.

    The arrests come weeks after the Justice Department issued a report saying some members of the department intentionally targeted Latinos for enforcement and traffic stops, and that there may have been efforts to cover up the alleged misconduct.

    The Justice Department also found "serious deficiencies" in how the department is managed, officials told NBC New York.

    Rev. James Manship is among those who worked to document what he said was harassment of Latino businesses by police for no apparent reason. Manship was arrested and locked up while videotaping one arrest. He was later released. 

    Click here to read the original story on NBCNewYork.com

    The former chief of the East Haven Police has denied his department systematically engaged in any wrongdoing. But he acknowledged certain members of the department were being investigated.

    The New York FBI joined in the investigation to avoid any appearance of a conflict by the FBI Connecticut, which works closely with local police departments. An FBI New York spokesman declined to comment. 

    There was no immediate comment from an East Haven police department spokesperson either.

    Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy commented on the allegations of racial profiling last week, saying, "As governor, I will continue to insist that every effort is taken to protect individual rights in every community,and that racial profiling is eliminated.”

    Some residents and civil rights groups have held vigils and rallies to protest the alleged police misconduct. Previous news reports suggested as many as 15 officers were under scrutiny for alleged misconduct.

    Connecticut U.S. Attorney spokesman Tom Carson confirmed the arrests and said the charges would be outlined at a news conference in Bridgeport later Tuesday morning.

    More content from msnbc.com and NBC News