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Clive Lino: There’s a feeling of embarrassment. They make me feel like I have done something even though I haven’t, because I’ve been stopped so much. Now when I do see officers, I’m kind of on edge. I would look out for them before I would look out for somebody trying to rob me.Were you also frisked when they stopped you?
I think about 90 to 95 percent of the time, I’ve either been frisked, searched, or something. They don’t just like stop me and ask me questions.You were stopped-and-frisked around the same time you filed the lawsuit. What happened?
At that time, I lived at my mother’s in East Harlem in George Washington housing. On 103rd and Lexington Avenue, [my friend and I] got some Chinese food. We came outside this door to wait for the food to be cooked, and officers just came out and started asking us all a bunch of questions, making it seem like we had done something. And then they searched us and said they were stopping us because of my friend, but they searched both of us. They called for backup. The backup guys came and searched us again. They ran our names in the system. They had us in front of this store for like half an hour, and they kept asking us the same questions. I told them, “I’m answering all the questions, and you keep asking the same questions over and over.”Do you feel safe walking around New York?
Yeah, I feel personally safe. But when I see officers I get all timid and nervous—like I did something when I haven’t done anything.
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Le1f: I was on my way to another interview. I’m in a cab. I get out after having an argument with this cab for [dropping me off] in the wrong place. The cops saw that I had some issue with the driver, but mind you, it was a $20 cab. I gave him $30 for taking me to the wrong place. So I get out of the cab and under the bridge on Delancey Street, and they stopped and frisked me, put me in handcuffs, and asked me what happened. I had to stop the cab driver. It was a whole situation. They wanted to know what happened with me and this cab driver, and put me in handcuffs without reading my rights and all that kind of shit.Do you view stop-and-frisk as a problem in the city?
Stop-and-frisk is obviously a problem. It’s like allowing people to harass people. It reminds me of Jim Crow. It’s legit like a Jim Crow law.STEVE FERDMANRecently, Steve Ferdman commented on a Reddit thread about stop-and-frisk. We emailed him, and he agreed to tell us more about what had happened to him.When were you stopped-and-frisked?
Steve Ferdman: Last summer.
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A plain-clothes cop tapped me on the shoulder from behind and said, “Hi.” Three other plain-clothes cops surrounded me and pulled their badges over their shirts—they were tucked away as they initially approached. One reached into my pocket grabbing my Leatherman pocket tool. They then asked me where I was from, if I had ID, and why I had or needed a Leatherman pocket tool. Bewildered, I explained that I often use the tools to tune the carburetor on my motorbike and to take the seat off my bicycle when I park outside. Then, I asked for clarification as to why he was reaching into my pockets without my consent for something that is readily available at 100 percent of hardware stores in America. Rather than answering, they quickly finished running my ID, handed it back to me along with my multi-tool, and said, “Have a nice day.” They then all stood there mean-mugging me as I walked away.Do you think stop-and-frisk is racial profiling?
With regards to stop-and-frisk, it's obviously a racial profiling issue. I think people would be less offended by stop-and-frisk if it were enforced in all areas equally—I'd actually have a blast watching tourists and wealthy folks get stopped-and-frisked. If you can arrest a black teenager for a dime bag of weed, why not stop an investment banker and lock him up for the bag of cocaine in his pocket? Sadly, you'll never see random searches on Madison Avenue. It's an uptown and outer-boroughs thing—which is why it's deplorable.
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