Stop-and-frisk is one thing, but what if there was a secret program that forced officers to target Black people in a similar way? You don’t have to imagine it, because it existed. A cop kept notes on how the program worked, and now it’s been exposed to the general public.
Bronx NYPD’s Pedro Serrano kept notes in real time on how supervisors at the 40th Precinct ordered the targeting of Black people! Also noted: orders for better treatment of “soft targets,” those who are white, Jewish, or Asian. But officers were commanded to especially zero in on Black men for jailing.
Officers who resisted compliance had another thing coming.
Those officers were reprimanded, according to Serrano, and punished, too. When white officers didn’t meet their quota, they weren’t treated as badly - just like soft targets. Supervisors treated non-whites in the department EXACTLY how they treated Blacks on the outside! The racism led to it all being exposed.
Now, Serrano’s got a lawsuit revealing the scandal. But when the pressure was on, the police did something grimy to save themselves.
They destroyed the notebook! Typical.
Racist quotas aren’t something exclusive to the NYPD. Officers are regularly encouraged to target Black people, and many departments institute bias training to try to prevent it. Still, the practice is ingrained in the mindset of police forces across the nation.