N.Y. stop-and-frisk judge denies bid to delay decision

New York City lost a bid to delay a federal judge's ruling that its police department violated the constitutional rights of minorities with its stop-and-frisk search tactic while it appeals.

U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin today denied the city's request to delay her decision, in which she appointed a monitor to oversee the New York City Police Department's stop-and-frisk policies and ordered changes to the way the city trains, monitors and disciplines police.

"A stay of this court's orders would encourage the NYPD to return to its former practice of conducting thousands upon thousands of improper stops -- including those based merely on a person entering or exiting a building in which he or she resides," Scheindlin said in her opinion.

Scheindlin issued her rulings in two cases after overseeing a nine-week trial that ended May 20. New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said after the rulings Aug. 12 that the city benefited from the policy and that the judge "ignored the real-world realities of crime."

Kate O'Brien Ahlers, a spokeswoman for the New York City Law Department, had no immediate comment on the ruling.

The mayor is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, parent of Bloomberg News.

The cases are Floyd v. City of New York, 08-cv-01034; Ligon v. City of New York 12-cv-02274, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

(Published by Bloomberg - September 17, 2013)