The Daily Show Destroys What's Left of the NYPD's Stop-and-Frisk

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Neetzan Zimmerman

08/14/13 10:11AM

Filed to: The Daily Show

Following a recent ruling by a Federal judge who declared the NYPD's stop-and-frisk program unconstitutional, Mayor Bloomberg said he planned to appeal the decision claiming the discriminatory practice of detaining the city's residents based on their skin color didn't get "a fair trial."

"Hold on — let me get this straight: you think this program is being unfairly stopped and scrutinized even though it’s done nothing wrong," asked Daily Show host John Oliver during last night's definitive segment on the controversial tactic. "I think I know millions of blacks and Latinos in this city who know exactly how you feel."

For the "white people" in the audience who were having trouble empathizing, Oliver offered this analogy:

You know how we feel at the airport, when the TSA is patting us down, unnecessarily delaying us, looking for weapons we obviously don't have? Well, imagine your entire neighborhood is Terminal B at LaGuardia, and the TSA agents sometimes talk to you like this: "Um, boarding pass please and what the fuck are you looking at?"

In a follow-up report, senior correspondent Jessica Williams takes to the streets of Business Harlem (i.e., Wall Street) where "white collar crime is disproportionately committed by people who fit a certain profile."

[H/T: The Atlantic Wire, screengrab via The Daily Show]

The following replies are approved. To see additional replies that are pending approval, click Show Pending. Warning: These may contain graphic material.

1

Bmore Neetzan Zimmerman 08/14/13 10:22AM

What's the big deal with Stop and Frisk? Can anyone here say that it hasn't been effective? Is NYC still one of the most dangerous citys in the US or is it the safest?

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Kittenmittens Bmore 08/14/13 10:24AM

Did you watch the clip?

66

Jer'Maine Montiel Bmore 08/14/13 10:26AM

Slavery was also effective. I mean why would you get rid of that?

18

Wrekdum Bmore 08/14/13 10:27AM

Well...crime has dropped around the nation and cities with and without stop and frisk have all seen about the same rate of drop, so.....

13

phunkydroid Bmore 08/14/13 10:28AM

Yeah, if we just arrested EVERYONE, there would be no more crime!

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ScottRaphael Neetzan Zimmerman 08/14/13 11:20AM

It will break my liberal heart if this somehow actually results in a gigantic increase in NY crime. That said, good riddance - although, I wouldn't count the comedy duo of Bloomberg and Kelly out just yet.

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BigPlops ScottRaphael 08/14/13 11:39AM

It breaks my heart that your liberal heart considers that relevant.

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ScottRaphael BigPlops 08/14/13 12:08PM

How is that not a possibility? It doesn't justify keeping discriminatory, draconian laws, but denying it's possible is just dumb. I just don't want to hear any smarmy Told Ya Sos from the stupid bloomberg / kelly / NY Post circuit.

BigPlops ScottRaphael 08/14/13 12:20PM

I wasn't denying its possibility at all. "Told Ya Sos" would be missing the point.

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BigPlops ScottRaphael 08/14/13 12:27PM

If all black people were in internment camps, crime would go down. If those camps were finally considered unconstitutional and a release was scheduled, a comment like "it would break my heart if crime went up after they got out" would be monsterously missing the point (and it most certainly would go up).

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bemusedfinanceguywholosthisburnerpassword Neetzan Zimmerman 08/14/13 10:37AM

This was actually pretty funny. But sad.

It is a shame that Wall Street isn't policed and monitored...well, with the exception of the SEC..

and FINRA

the NFA, CFTC, Dodd-Frank, Form PF, TRACE, Swap Data Repositories, Swap Exchange Facilities, Large Trader Reporting, Short Sales Reporting requirements, 13Fs, Series 7, 63, 33,..(insert about 50 other reporting/monitoring policies and procedures).

Traders, bankers and brokers can't fart without about 15 different government and quasi-government entities knowing what they ate earlier that day. The street is stopped, frisked and fucked in real time each and every day.

The continual harassment just wears down on us. Seriously, it's not that we want to commit white collar crime..it's just the Man's distrust and de-humanization makes us do it. We are YOU society. We are you.

Perhaps if you addressed the root cause versus the symptoms - maybe investing those billions wasted on monitoring me and making me feel like less of a person into programs designed to give me a leg up earlier, people wouldn't have to resort to selling products they also own (well, not that of course since that is standard industry practice for broker/dealers and only idiots don't know that..but hey it's a good sound bite so let's go with it).

I'm a person. Not a statistic.

the actual bajmahal bemusedfinanceguywholosthisburnerpassword 08/14/13 12:02PM

You poor, poor rich guys.

All this oversight must be why the economy didn't tank and the incarceration rate for the bad apples in your industry is so high.

bemusedfinanceguywholosthisburnerpassword the actual bajmahal 08/14/13 12:53PM

Incarceration rate % depends on what your definition of "bad apples" is.

My guess is, like most, it's "people doing things I really, really wish were illegal but actually aren't."

the actual bajmahal bemusedfinanceguywholosthisburnerpassword 08/14/13 01:42PM

You're guess is somewhat correct. There are terrible, unethical, immoral, and unwise Wall Street practices that should be illegal (or once were illegal) but because of strong lobbying efforts in Washington, aren't. But even when the Feds have successfully prosecuted some financial misdeed, the companies involved ended up with laughably small (as compared to their net take) "cost-of-doing-business" fines. The few Wall Streeters that have actually gone to jail have tended to be mid-level schmucks who were dumb enough to actually brag about their crimes in their emails -oh wait, even then they still don't go to jail.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/bu…

bemusedfinanceguywholosthisburnerpassword the actual bajmahal 08/15/13 06:59AM

I can't argue with "terrible" and "unethical". However, I take great issue with "immoral" because, well, that's sort of the same thing as "unethical" and I despise redundancy.

As for "unwise"...well, that is somewhat relative. They may be quite wise, depending on which side of the deal you are on.

They don't go to jail because, generally, these acts are not illegal and their behavior (by design) exists in a gray zone of morality/illegality. The dude you cited in your link, while certainly a douche (not because of what he did but because homeboy felt the need to brag about it in order to woo a chick), was railroaded on the civil charge because the public demands a sacrifice. Fair enough. But he really didn't break any laws.

Wall Street is, ultimately, a gigantic global series of constant dealmaking. When deals are made, there are generally winners and losers. Losers don't like to lose, and they will often find an excuse for losing.

But sometimes, you are just are on the wrong end of the blowjob.

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FingeringCake Neetzan Zimmerman 08/14/13 10:21AM

The government subsidizes white collar crime and white people use most of the drugs in this country but...the NYPD frisks overwhelmingly colored kids and 95% of the time find nothing.

Good job. Good effort.

Arturo FingeringCake 08/14/13 10:28AM

But if we stop frisking POCs (People of Color) then they'll start carrying things! It's a preventative measu- wait.. I was trying to be facetious but this almost sounds like a good idea for Chicago's South Side.

thejessman112 FingeringCake 08/14/13 11:05AM

I get the whole "frisk the wall street guys!" refrain, it just bugs me. What do you think a police officer is going to find on a banker on Wall Street that will be actionable evidence? The SEC should be beefed up to actually do it's job, yes, but police are tasked with fighting street crime, not financial crime, if they're going to stop anyone, it should be people they suspect of that.

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CPR14 thejessman112 08/14/13 11:36AM

In that case, a more apt analogy might have been to have Jessica stationed on a college campus where cops are stopping and frisking frat bros for rufies and pot.

the actual bajmahal thejessman112 08/14/13 11:49AM

"What do you think a police officer is going to find on a banker on Wall Street that will be actionable evidence?"

Cocaine, maybe.