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City Takes Next Step in Bid to Halt Stop-and-Frisk Rulings

By Colby Hamilton | August 16, 2013 3:49pm | Updated on August 16, 2013 7:06pm
 From left to right, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, and Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo after Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled the city's stop-and-frisk policy unconstitutional on August 12.
From left to right, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, and Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo after Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled the city's stop-and-frisk policy unconstitutional on August 12.
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DNAinfo/Colby Hamilton

NEW YORK CITY — Days after a federal judge slapped down the city and the NYPD for what she called a systematic tactic of racial profiling through stop-and-frisk, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office began its appeal Friday to have the ruling overturned.

The mayor vowed to fight Scheindlin's decisions ordering a halt to the police department's current use of stop-and-frisk in a vitriolic press conference Monday afternoon, calling the rulings "dangerous" and ignorant of the needs of patrolling a big city.

The city's law department said the first step will be to ask Scheindlin to reverse her own decision — but if she declines, sources say the administration will go over her head to the appeals court.

Scheindlin found the police department's stop-and-frisk policy violated constitutionally-protected rights against search and seizure and equal protection under the law, by targeting largely innocent individuals based on their race.

She also ordered a halt to the police program known as Operation Clean Halls, which allowed police officers to patrol in and around private apartment buildings with the owner's permission, and question people inside those buildings and demand ID.

She assigned court-appointed federal monitor Peter Zimroth to work with the NYPD and the city's lawyers to implement and oversee changes, a layer of oversight Raymond Kelly called unnecessary.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn criticized the administration's decision to appeal the ruling, vowing to work with the plaintiffs in the case to fight the administration's efforts in the courts.

"Communities across the city have suffered long enough under unjust, unfair and unconstitutional practices," Quinn said. "There should be no further delay to long-needed reforms to stop, question and frisk."