Second NYPD officer testifies on stop-and-frisk quotas, racial targeting

Second NYPD officer testifies on stop-and-frisk quotas, racial targeting:
Officer Pedro Serrano, an 8-year veteran of the New York PoliceDepartment, held back tears as he explained to the judge why hecame forward: “It’s very simple. I have children. I try to be adecent person.”
Serrano joins another whistleblower from the Bronx, OfficerAdhyl Polanco, who testified earlier this week regarding his ownrecordings as part of a federal class action suit against the Cityof New York seeking to address racial disparities in thedepartment’s street stops.
Meanwhile, a 2003 settlement from a similar lawsuit set in placea requirement for the NYPD to track the stops. The resultingrecords showed that some 87 per cent of the 5 million individualsdetained by police were black or Latino.
Officer Serrano presented a recording from June 2010 in which afemale lieutenant told officers she was “looking for five” -that is, requesting a specific quota for criminal summonses fromofficers in the precinct. Serrano recorded another instance only amonth later, in which another lieutenant made a similar referenceto a “five-five-five,” indicating a quota in place forarrests, patrols and summonses at public housing projects.
Serrano testified that his performance evaluation subsequentlydropped in every category, evidently for failing to meet thequotas. During a meeting with his supervisor, Serrano was told thathis performance score was based more on his “numbers” andhis “low activity.” At the time, his precinct’s captain issaid to have informed him that the NYPD’s Operations Order No. 52allowed her to implement “performance goals,” likely aveiled reference to quotas.
Much of Serrano’s testimony supports accusations that officers who refused or failed tomeet quotas were subjected to discriminatory treatment. Serranopoints to the fact that he was transferred to an undesirable post,denied a day off following a car accident near his home, and thevandalization of his personal locker - which included the placementof “rat stickers.”
In its denial of the quota system and a racial profiling policy,the NYPD claims that the appearances of both stem from departmentalreliance on the CompStat program, that being the heavy policing ofhigh-crime neighborhoods - which are often predominantly minoritycommunities.
Still, Serrano’s testimony did reveal direct evidence of racialtargeting at least in his precinct. In one specific recording, alieutenant urged officers to concentrate on a region in the southBronx: "St. Mary's Park: go crazy in there. Go crazy in there. Idon't care if everybody writes everything in there. That's not aproblem."
Officer Serrano also provided recordings of an appeals meetingwith Deputy Inspector Christopher McCormick, regarding his lownumbers for writeups - which he was told would only have been“appropriate for Central Park.”
The same meeting became heated after McCormick indicatedSerrano’s numbers demonstrated a lack of initiative, an issue hedemanded be rectified by detaining “the right people at theright time.” “And who are the right people?” asksSerrano, to which McCormick replies “I don’t have any troubletelling you this: male blacks 14 to 20, 21.”
Serrano’s testimony was presented as part of Floyd v. City ofNew York, in which four plaintiffs claim they were raciallyprofiled by the NYPD. Four police officers presented evidence forthe prosecution.