New York City's stop-and-frisk policy was not only unpopular with its residents, but to those working within, including three officers who came forward about perceived injustices with the system.
Officers Pedro Serrano, Adhyl Polanco and Adrian Schoolcraft spoke out against the New York City Police Department's policy, which has led to 5 million searches in the last decade.
The three believe that the policy is unfair and deliberately targets young blacks and Latinos due in part to illegal quotas officers are required to fulfill.
Other officers said there are no quotas required of them.
Some officers have allegedly labeld them as traitors and have taken up harassing them at work, the three told the Washington Post.
Serrano in particular said that he was purposely put on the overnight shift and frequently comes in to work to find rat stickers on his locker or other evidence of bullying.
The NYPD maintains that its policy allows for officers to come forward about corruption without fear of punishment.
This behavior is reminiscent of Frank Serpico, who was involved in exposing police corruption scandals in the 1970s. Most notably, he was shot in the face during a drug raid in February of 1971, to which he said officers purposely failed to back him up and protect him.
"Nothing's changed," he said about the stop-and-frisk case. "It's the same old crap - kill the messenger."
Serrano, Polanco and Schoolcraft all secretly recorded meetings, briefings and events on the street that they say demonstrate they were deliberately targeted by officials with a vested interest in preserving the image of the NYPD.
These recordings, along with the full stop-and-frisk training video, were played at the trail.
Only Serrano and Polanco testified in court, also noting that they often felt pressured to make stops they didn't believe were right.
"I was extremely bothered with what I was seeing out there," Polanco said in court. "The racial profiling, the arresting people for no reason, being called to scenes that I did not observe a violation and being forced to write a summons that I didn't observe."
Serrano said for his refusal to engage in what he believed was wrong, he was denied vacation time and forced to work overtime for failing to fulfill his quota.
After he testified in court last month, he was moved from Manhattan to the Bronx precinct.
NYPD Deputy Chief James Shea also testified in court in favor of stop-and-frisk and the NYPD's conduct.
He said that stop-and-frisk would keep the city safe from illegal guns, but that officers should use good judgment when making stops.
Shea is expected back in court on behalf of the city Monday.
Those opposed to the NYPD's conduct want an observer to oversee stops made by police, a move Police Commissioner Ray Kelly called unnecessary.
A lot of training, ongoing training program up at our Rodman's Neck range. We use attorneys, we use that video," he said. "So we are very much concerned about the issue but I believe we are on top of it. And I believe that training video if you saw it, is very well done."
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