1 00:00:44,513 --> 00:00:45,929 [ Police Sirens ] 2 00:00:49,237 --> 00:00:50,287 [ cop ] You look very suspicious. 3 00:00:50,287 --> 00:00:51,715 Cause you are always looking at me crazy. 4 00:00:52,546 --> 00:00:54,963 [ Music Playing... ] 5 00:01:02,703 --> 00:01:05,511 [ Altercation Occurring ] 6 00:01:10,855 --> 00:01:12,689 That is exactly how some (explicit) will go down. 7 00:01:12,689 --> 00:01:13,722 Just like that. 8 00:01:13,861 --> 00:01:15,091 Just like that. 9 00:01:16,107 --> 00:01:18,773 People do not like the police because of the harassment. 10 00:01:18,773 --> 00:01:22,742 And what civilians do not understand, is that the police department is like forcing us... 11 00:01:22,742 --> 00:01:24,939 ...to do these unreasonable stops, 12 00:01:24,939 --> 00:01:27,556 or, you're going to get penalized. 13 00:01:45,835 --> 00:01:47,790 I think the mayor is absolutely correct. 14 00:01:49,205 --> 00:01:52,625 Some people are just very hurt by it, and upset, when they are stopped unnecessarily. 15 00:01:52,702 --> 00:01:53,902 Well I understand that. 16 00:01:54,256 --> 00:01:55,423 Some people... 17 00:01:55,423 --> 00:01:58,682 You know you're taking away, at the very least, you are taking away people's time. 18 00:01:58,682 --> 00:02:01,016 So I understand, that people may not be happy with it. 19 00:02:01,016 --> 00:02:04,184 But I can also assure you, that I go to the communities, communities of color,... 20 00:02:04,184 --> 00:02:05,849 ...people want more. 21 00:02:05,849 --> 00:02:06,684 [ reporter ] They want more stop and frisks? 22 00:02:06,684 --> 00:02:07,328 Absolutely. 23 00:02:12,852 --> 00:02:17,490 I had this captain who walked into the precinct, and he gave a speech about harassing the public. 24 00:02:17,490 --> 00:02:18,878 His words were... 25 00:02:18,878 --> 00:02:21,303 "We're going to go out there and violate some rights." 26 00:02:22,133 --> 00:02:23,759 We hear it from the captain down. 27 00:02:23,759 --> 00:02:25,301 We want 250s. 28 00:02:25,594 --> 00:02:28,318 This is Stop, Question, and Frisk. 29 00:02:30,473 --> 00:02:32,182 [ phone ringing ] 30 00:02:44,154 --> 00:02:48,808 I was walking home from my girlfriends house, and a cop car went passed me. 31 00:02:48,808 --> 00:02:51,629 A couple of seconds later I heard the car turn around., 32 00:02:51,629 --> 00:02:53,266 and, they just popped out. 33 00:02:53,266 --> 00:02:55,416 They all just jumped out of the car. 34 00:02:55,416 --> 00:02:58,168 I decided to record it 'cause I was getting stopped a lot, 35 00:02:58,168 --> 00:03:01,587 and I didn't have evidence of cops being disrespectful and everything. 36 00:03:01,587 --> 00:03:05,512 So I pressed the button, and it recorded the whole thing. 37 00:03:08,466 --> 00:03:11,243 Yo I just got stopped like two blocks ago. 38 00:03:11,243 --> 00:03:13,105 Cause you are always looking at me crazy. 39 00:03:18,645 --> 00:03:20,440 [ cop ] That's our job my man. 40 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:22,231 Listen to me. Listen to me. 41 00:03:29,909 --> 00:03:32,465 [ cop ] Because you keep doing that shit, man. We stopped you last time. 42 00:03:45,448 --> 00:03:47,030 [ cop ] Who the fuck are you talkin' to? 43 00:03:47,030 --> 00:03:48,112 [ Alvin ] You asked me why I had a bookbag on. [ cop ] Who the fuck do you think you're talking to? 44 00:03:48,450 --> 00:03:50,255 [ Alvin ] You asked me why I had a bookbag on. [ cop ] Who the fuck do you think you're talking to? 45 00:03:50,255 --> 00:03:51,723 [ altercation occurring ] 46 00:03:51,723 --> 00:03:53,355 Why you touching me for? 47 00:03:53,355 --> 00:03:54,361 He was holding me. He was going through my pockets. 48 00:03:54,577 --> 00:03:56,713 Going up and down. He was going through my sweater. 49 00:03:56,750 --> 00:03:59,396 Then that's when he told me to keep my hands on my head. 50 00:03:59,396 --> 00:04:01,619 So I was like this the whole time. 51 00:04:02,481 --> 00:04:03,765 [ Alvin ] For what? 52 00:04:03,765 --> 00:04:04,956 [ cop ] Shut your fuckin; mouth kid. 53 00:04:04,956 --> 00:04:05,797 [ Alvin ] Why am I getting arrested for? 54 00:04:05,797 --> 00:04:06,833 [ cop ] SHUT YOUR MOUTH! 55 00:04:06,833 --> 00:04:07,764 [ Alvin ] What am I being arrested for? 56 00:04:16,211 --> 00:04:18,992 He decided to take my hands, from here, and put it behind my back, like that. 57 00:04:23,241 --> 00:04:24,508 [ cop ] Shut your fucking mouth! 58 00:04:24,508 --> 00:04:26,138 [ Alvin ] You're asking me questions! 59 00:04:27,185 --> 00:04:27,998 I was.. 60 00:04:28,028 --> 00:04:30,171 [ cop ] Have some fuckin' respect! 61 00:04:30,571 --> 00:04:32,298 [ Alvin ] ... 'cause you always stoppin' me for no reason. 62 00:04:34,452 --> 00:04:36,458 [ Alvin ] You're going to break my arm? 63 00:04:36,458 --> 00:04:37,575 For what? 64 00:04:37,575 --> 00:04:39,594 [ cop ] Who's your father? 65 00:04:39,933 --> 00:04:41,518 [ Alvin ] He's not going to answer he doesn't got a phone. 66 00:04:41,518 --> 00:04:43,438 He is a traffic cop? 67 00:04:43,438 --> 00:04:44,020 Figures. 68 00:04:44,020 --> 00:04:47,111 [ Alvin ] Don't touch me. OK he's a traff... 69 00:04:47,111 --> 00:04:50,508 [ recording playing back some of previous assault ] 70 00:04:53,447 --> 00:04:54,689 While they holding me... the sergeant is holding me like this. 71 00:04:54,994 --> 00:04:57,940 He's like, "I'm going to break your arm." 72 00:04:57,940 --> 00:04:59,775 I'm like..I'm like, you're going to break my arm? 73 00:04:59,775 --> 00:05:01,366 He said "yeah and I'm gonna punch you in the face." 74 00:05:01,366 --> 00:05:03,359 I was like you know, "you're gonna punch my in my face? 75 00:05:03,359 --> 00:05:05,081 He's like "yeah, and then I'm gonna arrest you." 76 00:05:05,081 --> 00:05:06,145 I'm like, "arrest me for what?" 77 00:05:06,145 --> 00:05:08,203 He's like, "for being a mutt." 78 00:05:08,203 --> 00:05:12,164 So he grabbed me, by my book bag, and started pushing me down. 79 00:05:12,164 --> 00:05:15,301 So I am going backwards down a hill, and he just kept pushing me and pushing me. 80 00:05:15,301 --> 00:05:16,657 It looked like he was going to hit me. 81 00:05:16,657 --> 00:05:21,855 I felt like they were trying to make me resist, so they could fight me back. 82 00:05:22,778 --> 00:05:34,089 [ recording playing back assault... ] 83 00:05:38,689 --> 00:05:40,900 I'm mad just hearing that thing. 84 00:05:40,900 --> 00:05:44,105 Not many words really, like, could describe that. 85 00:05:44,105 --> 00:05:45,690 It's just disturbing. 86 00:05:45,690 --> 00:05:47,691 But, that is exactly what is happening. 87 00:05:47,691 --> 00:05:50,412 Like, I can relate to what he is doing. 88 00:05:50,412 --> 00:05:52,440 Cause I know that situation. 89 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:54,357 They just don't got no respect for us. 90 00:05:54,357 --> 00:05:57,088 And they wonder why we don't have respect for them. 91 00:05:57,088 --> 00:06:00,254 For them to just call him a name like that like... 92 00:06:00,254 --> 00:06:02,930 That's just crazy. 93 00:06:03,884 --> 00:06:07,883 [ interviewer ] Do you think, that during stops, that some police officers try to provoke,... 94 00:06:07,883 --> 00:06:09,948 ..so that they can justify arrests? 95 00:06:09,948 --> 00:06:13,245 [ cop ] Of course they do. A lot of police officers they try to set civilians off. 96 00:06:13,850 --> 00:06:17,522 and then once they start talking, start cursing, they can lock them off for anything. 97 00:06:17,522 --> 00:06:19,898 There were two minorities leaning against the wall. 98 00:06:19,898 --> 00:06:21,273 They weren't doing anything. 99 00:06:21,273 --> 00:06:25,275 My sergeant ordered me to write them "blocking pedestrian traffic". 100 00:06:25,275 --> 00:06:27,823 If you are a certain ethnicity, standing on the corner,... 101 00:06:27,823 --> 00:06:34,371 -lieutenants, sergeants- have no problem searching you, violating your rights, and racial profiling. 102 00:06:34,371 --> 00:06:37,874 There was one statement, that the sergeant said, about what he used to do. 103 00:06:37,874 --> 00:06:39,502 He used to stop a guy walking down the street... 104 00:06:39,502 --> 00:06:43,430 ...with baggy pants, his underwear hanging out, and he'd just stop him. 105 00:06:43,430 --> 00:06:46,942 He says "I know he's probably up to nothin', but I just stop him anyway to get a 250". 106 00:06:47,266 --> 00:06:51,165 There's this one cop that everybody in the neighbourhood knows. 107 00:06:51,347 --> 00:06:53,434 Stopped us like three times already. 108 00:06:53,434 --> 00:06:55,020 He was like, "Now come here". 109 00:06:55,020 --> 00:06:56,612 So they got out the car. 110 00:06:56,612 --> 00:06:58,450 They threw my friend on the car. 111 00:06:58,450 --> 00:07:00,730 I'm still walking. 112 00:07:00,730 --> 00:07:03,320 He spun me around and punched me in my stomach. 113 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:04,982 He started just patting us down. 114 00:07:04,982 --> 00:07:07,140 He just left us there. 115 00:07:09,156 --> 00:07:15,179 What we're trying to do is, is make certain that it's done as professionally as possible. 116 00:07:16,287 --> 00:07:19,309 That the proper respect is shown and done according to the law. 117 00:07:19,833 --> 00:07:21,334 This goes all the way up. 118 00:07:21,334 --> 00:07:23,422 All the way up to the commissioners office. 119 00:07:23,422 --> 00:07:24,932 I'd say even the mayors office. 120 00:07:24,932 --> 00:07:26,583 Where they are trying to be proactive. 121 00:07:26,583 --> 00:07:29,755 and say "look, we are stopping people and getting drugs and guns off the streets." 122 00:07:29,755 --> 00:07:34,629 But it's not. I think of the 600,000 people that were stopped last year, 123 00:07:34,629 --> 00:07:38,649 only 1%, of those that were stopped, were carrying weapons. 124 00:07:49,281 --> 00:07:53,047 [ newscasters ] The NYPD controversial Stop and Frisk policy... 125 00:07:55,648 --> 00:08:02,230 Last year your police officers stopped and interrogated people nearly 686,000 times... 126 00:08:02,230 --> 00:08:08,397 Today, that lawsuit raises serious questions about quotas, racial profiling, and constitutional rights. 127 00:08:09,058 --> 00:08:13,520 The public isn't aware of what's happening, but everything is being look at as far as numbers. 128 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:14,413 And it's a numbers game. 129 00:08:14,413 --> 00:08:18,862 Ok. What did you get last year? Well, you have to match it, and give me more this year. 130 00:09:38,315 --> 00:09:40,392 They're trying to keep all of this stuff quiet. 131 00:09:41,516 --> 00:09:44,777 So this is my proof, that they're putting pressure on me to write summonses. 132 00:09:45,516 --> 00:09:49,516 Commanders are trying to be proactive, or show that they're being proactive. 133 00:09:49,516 --> 00:09:52,903 And here you have a system where people are told to get those numbers,... 134 00:09:52,903 --> 00:09:55,850 ... to where they should to be, and you're gonna get your promotion. 135 00:09:55,850 --> 00:09:59,682 The commanding officer wants to become a deputy inspector. 136 00:09:59,682 --> 00:10:03,373 The executive officer wants to become a commanding officer. 137 00:10:03,373 --> 00:10:06,625 If you do well, by keeping the arrests up and the summonses up,... 138 00:10:06,625 --> 00:10:09,087 ...you will be promoted to the next rank. 139 00:10:09,087 --> 00:10:12,989 So, they put pressure on the police officers to generate numbers and arrests. 140 00:10:19,513 --> 00:10:21,055 I mean, lets be real, it is a quota. 141 00:10:21,055 --> 00:10:23,268 Nobody wants to call it that, but that's what it is. 142 00:10:23,298 --> 00:10:27,123 They can call it a performance objective. They call it a goal that can mask it however they want. 143 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:29,415 It's a quota, and it does exist. 144 00:10:30,231 --> 00:10:32,516 Some of us, under the stress, make them up. 145 00:10:32,516 --> 00:10:36,626 Some of us, under the stress, stop innocent people and search them. 146 00:10:37,273 --> 00:10:41,051 And there are certain units out there that will run around and stop everybody. 147 00:10:44,206 --> 00:10:47,393 What happens to the officer if they don't do what the police department tells them to do? 148 00:10:47,393 --> 00:10:50,385 As far as quotas, they will come after you. 149 00:10:50,385 --> 00:10:54,007 Come after you meaning transfers. Giving you low evaluations. 150 00:10:54,007 --> 00:10:56,548 They give you unwanted assignments. 151 00:10:56,548 --> 00:10:58,260 Put you in a post which is very dangerous. 152 00:10:58,260 --> 00:11:00,646 High crime. By yourself. In a corner. 153 00:11:00,833 --> 00:11:02,997 This is a form of retaliation. 154 00:11:03,212 --> 00:11:05,396 Basically a change of tours, put you on the midnight. 155 00:11:05,460 --> 00:11:07,217 They make you look bad on paperwork. 156 00:11:07,217 --> 00:11:09,883 And that paperwork will trail you for the rest of your police career. 157 00:11:09,883 --> 00:11:13,677 And knowing that your livelihood is at stake, you meet the quota. 158 00:11:14,693 --> 00:11:17,595 It does create this feeling, of hey listen, I got to get my numbers. 159 00:11:19,365 --> 00:11:24,592 When you put that pressure on the officer, this us versus them mentality does exist. 160 00:11:29,239 --> 00:11:31,462 When I came into this police department, I wanted to help people. 161 00:11:31,462 --> 00:11:34,047 But the civilian population they are being hunted. 162 00:11:34,047 --> 00:11:37,131 Instead of being protected by us, they're being hunted. 163 00:11:37,131 --> 00:11:38,635 And we're being hated. 164 00:11:38,635 --> 00:11:41,346 The police department is pushing the new guys to be bounty hunters. 165 00:11:41,346 --> 00:11:43,055 And I use that word because that's exactly what it is. 166 00:11:43,055 --> 00:11:44,860 They're hunting. 167 00:11:44,937 --> 00:11:48,250 There's a lot of officers, who are fed up, and want to do something about it. 168 00:11:48,250 --> 00:11:50,390 And there's people who are scared. 169 00:11:50,729 --> 00:11:54,273 There's a lot of officers that would like to tell their story. 170 00:11:54,273 --> 00:11:56,277 But, nobody wants to hear the truth. 171 00:11:56,277 --> 00:11:59,314 Nobody wants to hear the bad. 172 00:12:00,530 --> 00:12:04,758 You need police, but the police department needs to change things. 173 00:12:06,279 --> 00:12:08,404 At one point, I did want to be a cop, 174 00:12:08,404 --> 00:12:14,461 to help people, and mostly just be like able to wear a badge, and uniform, and be proud of it. 175 00:12:14,461 --> 00:12:15,837 Now I feel like i'm not sure. 176 00:12:15,837 --> 00:12:17,128 Cause they're not there to help people anymore. 177 00:12:17,128 --> 00:12:19,423 They're just there to like stop and humiliate them. 178 00:12:19,423 --> 00:12:20,805 Make them feel bad. 179 00:12:23,744 --> 00:12:27,010 There is no excuses for the way they treated me. 180 00:12:27,380 --> 00:12:30,212 This one individual was thinking about doing NYPD. 181 00:12:30,212 --> 00:12:33,343 The first thing I told him is, "Definitely not." 182 00:12:33,343 --> 00:12:38,844 This job, racial profiles, will force you to do things that you don't wanna do. 183 00:12:38,844 --> 00:12:41,100 We're supposed to be the best in the world? 184 00:12:41,100 --> 00:12:45,010 We're the best at making money, and we're the best at arresting, and summonsing, everybody.