WEBVTT 00:00:44.513 --> 00:00:45.929 [ Police Sirens ] 00:00:49.237 --> 00:00:50.287 [ cop ] You look very suspicious. 00:00:50.287 --> 00:00:51.715 Cause you are always looking at me crazy. 00:00:52.546 --> 00:00:54.963 [ Music Playing... ] 00:01:02.703 --> 00:01:05.511 [ Altercation Occurring ] 00:01:10.855 --> 00:01:12.689 That is exactly how some (explicit) will go down. 00:01:12.689 --> 00:01:13.722 Just like that. 00:01:13.861 --> 00:01:15.091 Just like that. 00:01:16.107 --> 00:01:18.773 People do not like the police because of the harassment. 00:01:18.773 --> 00:01:22.742 And what civilians do not understand, is that the police department is like forcing us... 00:01:22.742 --> 00:01:24.939 ...to do these unreasonable stops, 00:01:24.939 --> 00:01:27.556 or, you're going to get penalized. 00:01:45.835 --> 00:01:47.790 I think the mayor is absolutely correct. 00:01:49.205 --> 00:01:52.625 Some people are just very hurt by it, and upset, when they are stopped unnecessarily. 00:01:52.702 --> 00:01:53.902 Well I understand that. 00:01:54.256 --> 00:01:55.423 Some people... 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. 00:01:58.682 --> 00:02:01.016 So I understand, that people may not be happy with it. 00:02:01.016 --> 00:02:04.184 But I can also assure you, that I go to the communities, communities of color,... 00:02:04.184 --> 00:02:05.849 ...people want more. 00:02:05.849 --> 00:02:06.684 [ reporter ] They want more stop and frisks? 00:02:06.684 --> 00:02:07.328 Absolutely. 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. 00:02:17.490 --> 00:02:18.878 His words were... 00:02:18.878 --> 00:02:21.303 "We're going to go out there and violate some rights." 00:02:22.133 --> 00:02:23.759 We hear it from the captain down. 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:25.301 We want 250s. 00:02:25.594 --> 00:02:28.318 This is Stop, Question, and Frisk. 00:02:30.473 --> 00:02:32.182 [ phone ringing ] 00:02:44.154 --> 00:02:48.808 I was walking home from my girlfriends house, and a cop car went passed me. 00:02:48.808 --> 00:02:51.629 A couple of seconds later I heard the car turn around., 00:02:51.629 --> 00:02:53.266 and, they just popped out. 00:02:53.266 --> 00:02:55.416 They all just jumped out of the car. 00:02:55.416 --> 00:02:58.168 I decided to record it 'cause I was getting stopped a lot, 00:02:58.168 --> 00:03:01.587 and I didn't have evidence of cops being disrespectful and everything. 00:03:01.587 --> 00:03:05.512 So I pressed the button, and it recorded the whole thing. 00:03:08.466 --> 00:03:11.243 Yo I just got stopped like two blocks ago. 00:03:11.243 --> 00:03:13.105 Cause you are always looking at me crazy. 00:03:18.645 --> 00:03:20.440 [ cop ] That's our job my man. 00:03:20.440 --> 00:03:22.231 Listen to me. Listen to me. 00:03:29.909 --> 00:03:32.465 [ cop ] Because you keep doing that shit, man. We stopped you last time. 00:03:45.448 --> 00:03:47.030 [ cop ] Who the fuck are you talkin' to? 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? 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? 00:03:50.255 --> 00:03:51.723 [ altercation occurring ] 00:03:51.723 --> 00:03:53.355 Why you touching me for? 00:03:53.355 --> 00:03:54.361 He was holding me. He was going through my pockets. 00:03:54.577 --> 00:03:56.713 Going up and down. He was going through my sweater. 00:03:56.750 --> 00:03:59.396 Then that's when he told me to keep my hands on my head. 00:03:59.396 --> 00:04:01.619 So I was like this the whole time. 00:04:02.481 --> 00:04:03.765 [ Alvin ] For what? 00:04:03.765 --> 00:04:04.956 [ cop ] Shut your fuckin; mouth kid. 00:04:04.956 --> 00:04:05.797 [ Alvin ] Why am I getting arrested for? 00:04:05.797 --> 00:04:06.833 [ cop ] SHUT YOUR MOUTH! 00:04:06.833 --> 00:04:07.764 [ Alvin ] What am I being arrested for? 00:04:16.211 --> 00:04:18.992 He decided to take my hands, from here, and put it behind my back, like that. 00:04:23.241 --> 00:04:24.508 [ cop ] Shut your fucking mouth! 00:04:24.508 --> 00:04:26.138 [ Alvin ] You're asking me questions! 00:04:27.185 --> 00:04:27.998 I was.. 00:04:28.028 --> 00:04:30.171 [ cop ] Have some fuckin' respect! 00:04:30.571 --> 00:04:32.298 [ Alvin ] ... 'cause you always stoppin' me for no reason. 00:04:34.452 --> 00:04:36.458 [ Alvin ] You're going to break my arm? 00:04:36.458 --> 00:04:37.575 For what? 00:04:37.575 --> 00:04:39.594 [ cop ] Who's your father? 00:04:39.933 --> 00:04:41.518 [ Alvin ] He's not going to answer he doesn't got a phone. 00:04:41.518 --> 00:04:43.438 He is a traffic cop? 00:04:43.438 --> 00:04:44.020 Figures. 00:04:44.020 --> 00:04:47.111 [ Alvin ] Don't touch me. OK he's a traff... 00:04:47.111 --> 00:04:50.508 [ recording playing back some of previous assault ] 00:04:53.447 --> 00:04:54.689 While they holding me... the sergeant is holding me like this. 00:04:54.994 --> 00:04:57.940 He's like, "I'm going to break your arm." 00:04:57.940 --> 00:04:59.775 I'm like..I'm like, you're going to break my arm? 00:04:59.775 --> 00:05:01.366 He said "yeah and I'm gonna punch you in the face." 00:05:01.366 --> 00:05:03.359 I was like you know, "you're gonna punch my in my face? 00:05:03.359 --> 00:05:05.081 He's like "yeah, and then I'm gonna arrest you." 00:05:05.081 --> 00:05:06.145 I'm like, "arrest me for what?" 00:05:06.145 --> 00:05:08.203 He's like, "for being a mutt." 00:05:08.203 --> 00:05:12.164 So he grabbed me, by my book bag, and started pushing me down. 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. 00:05:15.301 --> 00:05:16.657 It looked like he was going to hit me. 00:05:16.657 --> 00:05:21.855 I felt like they were trying to make me resist, so they could fight me back. 00:05:22.778 --> 00:05:34.089 [ recording playing back assault... ] 00:05:38.689 --> 00:05:40.900 I'm mad just hearing that thing. 00:05:40.900 --> 00:05:44.105 Not many words really, like, could describe that. 00:05:44.105 --> 00:05:45.690 It's just disturbing. 00:05:45.690 --> 00:05:47.691 But, that is exactly what is happening. 00:05:47.691 --> 00:05:50.412 Like, I can relate to what he is doing. 00:05:50.412 --> 00:05:52.440 Cause I know that situation. 00:05:52.440 --> 00:05:54.357 They just don't got no respect for us. 00:05:54.357 --> 00:05:57.088 And they wonder why we don't have respect for them. 00:05:57.088 --> 00:06:00.254 For them to just call him a name like that like... 00:06:00.254 --> 00:06:02.930 That's just crazy. 00:06:03.884 --> 00:06:07.883 [ interviewer ] Do you think, that during stops, that some police officers try to provoke,... 00:06:07.883 --> 00:06:09.948 ..so that they can justify arrests? 00:06:09.948 --> 00:06:13.245 [ cop ] Of course they do. A lot of police officers they try to set civilians off. 00:06:13.850 --> 00:06:17.522 and then once they start talking, start cursing, they can lock them off for anything. 00:06:17.522 --> 00:06:19.898 There were two minorities leaning against the wall. 00:06:19.898 --> 00:06:21.273 They weren't doing anything. 00:06:21.273 --> 00:06:25.275 My sergeant ordered me to write them "blocking pedestrian traffic". 00:06:25.275 --> 00:06:27.823 If you are a certain ethnicity, standing on the corner,... 00:06:27.823 --> 00:06:34.371 -lieutenants, sergeants- have no problem searching you, violating your rights, and racial profiling. 00:06:34.371 --> 00:06:37.874 There was one statement, that the sergeant said, about what he used to do. 00:06:37.874 --> 00:06:39.502 He used to stop a guy walking down the street... 00:06:39.502 --> 00:06:43.430 ...with baggy pants, his underwear hanging out, and he'd just stop him. 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". 00:06:47.266 --> 00:06:51.165 There's this one cop that everybody in the neighbourhood knows. 00:06:51.347 --> 00:06:53.434 Stopped us like three times already. 00:06:53.434 --> 00:06:55.020 He was like, "Now come here". 00:06:55.020 --> 00:06:56.612 So they got out the car. 00:06:56.612 --> 00:06:58.450 They threw my friend on the car. 00:06:58.450 --> 00:07:00.730 I'm still walking. 00:07:00.730 --> 00:07:03.320 He spun me around and punched me in my stomach. 00:07:03.320 --> 00:07:04.982 He started just patting us down. 00:07:04.982 --> 00:07:07.140 He just left us there. 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. 00:07:16.287 --> 00:07:19.309 That the proper respect is shown and done according to the law. 00:07:19.833 --> 00:07:21.334 This goes all the way up. 00:07:21.334 --> 00:07:23.422 All the way up to the commissioners office. 00:07:23.422 --> 00:07:24.932 I'd say even the mayors office. 00:07:24.932 --> 00:07:26.583 Where they are trying to be proactive. 00:07:26.583 --> 00:07:29.755 and say "look, we are stopping people and getting drugs and guns off the streets." 00:07:29.755 --> 00:07:34.629 But it's not. I think of the 600,000 people that were stopped last year, 00:07:34.629 --> 00:07:38.649 only 1%, of those that were stopped, were carrying weapons. 00:07:49.281 --> 00:07:53.047 [ newscasters ] The NYPD controversial Stop and Frisk policy... 00:07:55.648 --> 00:08:02.230 Last year your police officers stopped and interrogated people nearly 686,000 times... 00:08:02.230 --> 00:08:08.397 Today, that lawsuit raises serious questions about quotas, racial profiling, and constitutional rights. 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. 00:08:13.520 --> 00:08:14.413 And it's a numbers game. 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. 00:09:38.315 --> 00:09:40.392 They're trying to keep all of this stuff quiet. 00:09:41.516 --> 00:09:44.777 So this is my proof, that they're putting pressure on me to write summonses. 00:09:45.516 --> 00:09:49.516 Commanders are trying to be proactive, or show that they're being proactive. 00:09:49.516 --> 00:09:52.903 And here you have a system where people are told to get those numbers,... 00:09:52.903 --> 00:09:55.850 ... to where they should to be, and you're gonna get your promotion. 00:09:55.850 --> 00:09:59.682 The commanding officer wants to become a deputy inspector. 00:09:59.682 --> 00:10:03.373 The executive officer wants to become a commanding officer. 00:10:03.373 --> 00:10:06.625 If you do well, by keeping the arrests up and the summonses up,... 00:10:06.625 --> 00:10:09.087 ...you will be promoted to the next rank. 00:10:09.087 --> 00:10:12.989 So, they put pressure on the police officers to generate numbers and arrests. 00:10:19.513 --> 00:10:21.055 I mean, lets be real, it is a quota. 00:10:21.055 --> 00:10:23.268 Nobody wants to call it that, but that's what it is. 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. 00:10:27.320 --> 00:10:29.415 It's a quota, and it does exist. 00:10:30.231 --> 00:10:32.516 Some of us, under the stress, make them up. 00:10:32.516 --> 00:10:36.626 Some of us, under the stress, stop innocent people and search them. 00:10:37.273 --> 00:10:41.051 And there are certain units out there that will run around and stop everybody. 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? 00:10:47.393 --> 00:10:50.385 As far as quotas, they will come after you. 00:10:50.385 --> 00:10:54.007 Come after you meaning transfers. Giving you low evaluations. 00:10:54.007 --> 00:10:56.548 They give you unwanted assignments. 00:10:56.548 --> 00:10:58.260 Put you in a post which is very dangerous. 00:10:58.260 --> 00:11:00.646 High crime. By yourself. In a corner. 00:11:00.833 --> 00:11:02.997 This is a form of retaliation. 00:11:03.212 --> 00:11:05.396 Basically a change of tours, put you on the midnight. 00:11:05.460 --> 00:11:07.217 They make you look bad on paperwork. 00:11:07.217 --> 00:11:09.883 And that paperwork will trail you for the rest of your police career. 00:11:09.883 --> 00:11:13.677 And knowing that your livelihood is at stake, you meet the quota. 00:11:14.693 --> 00:11:17.595 It does create this feeling, of hey listen, I got to get my numbers. 00:11:19.365 --> 00:11:24.592 When you put that pressure on the officer, this us versus them mentality does exist. 00:11:29.239 --> 00:11:31.462 When I came into this police department, I wanted to help people. 00:11:31.462 --> 00:11:34.047 But the civilian population they are being hunted. 00:11:34.047 --> 00:11:37.131 Instead of being protected by us, they're being hunted. 00:11:37.131 --> 00:11:38.635 And we're being hated. 00:11:38.635 --> 00:11:41.346 The police department is pushing the new guys to be bounty hunters. 00:11:41.346 --> 00:11:43.055 And I use that word because that's exactly what it is. 00:11:43.055 --> 00:11:44.860 They're hunting. 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. 00:11:48.250 --> 00:11:50.390 And there's people who are scared. 00:11:50.729 --> 00:11:54.273 There's a lot of officers that would like to tell their story. 00:11:54.273 --> 00:11:56.277 But, nobody wants to hear the truth. 00:11:56.277 --> 00:11:59.314 Nobody wants to hear the bad. 00:12:00.530 --> 00:12:04.758 You need police, but the police department needs to change things. 00:12:06.279 --> 00:12:08.404 At one point, I did want to be a cop, 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. 00:12:14.461 --> 00:12:15.837 Now I feel like i'm not sure. 00:12:15.837 --> 00:12:17.128 Cause they're not there to help people anymore. 00:12:17.128 --> 00:12:19.423 They're just there to like stop and humiliate them. 00:12:19.423 --> 00:12:20.805 Make them feel bad. 00:12:23.744 --> 00:12:27.010 There is no excuses for the way they treated me. 00:12:27.380 --> 00:12:30.212 This one individual was thinking about doing NYPD. 00:12:30.212 --> 00:12:33.343 The first thing I told him is, "Definitely not." 00:12:33.343 --> 00:12:38.844 This job, racial profiles, will force you to do things that you don't wanna do. 00:12:38.844 --> 00:12:41.100 We're supposed to be the best in the world? 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.