Police Union and NYPD Collaborated to Set Arrest Quotas

New York City's police union and the NYPD collaborated to set arrest quotas for officers, confirms an audio recording obtained by The Nation on Tuesday.

In the audio clip, recorded in 2009 by officer Adil Polanco, a union delegate argues for "20-and-1": a monthly quota for each officer of 20 summonses and one arrest. According to several police interviewed by The Nation, some officers are forced to "seek out or even manufacture arrests" in order to meet quotas and avoid department retaliation.

The audio could be used as evidence in Floyd, et al. v. City of New York, et al., a case that opened yesterday in federal district court, whose plaintiffs allege the NYPD's stop-and-frisk policy results in racial profiling. From The Nation:

The NYPD has just surpassed 5 million stop-and-frisks during the Bloomberg era. Most stops have been of people of color, and the overwhelming majority were found innocent of any wrongdoing, according to the department’s own statistics. And though the number of stops may have gone down recently—as pressure on the department and increased awareness of the policy has officers and supervisors thinking twice about how they employ the practice—the existence of quotas ensures that New Yorkers will continue to be harassed unnecessarily by the NYPD.

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