Set-Up – just to catch attention:
The odds must be 1,000 to 1 against any one person having a suspicious bulge in their clothing resembling a weapon – justifying a police frisk. Maybe a lot more: never happened to me and I’m ready to turn 70 (and Irish). That makes it at least 1,000,000 to 1 against any two persons thrown up against a wall together being legitimately searched (1,000 X 1,000), 1,000,000,000 to 1 for three, etc.
Offended neighborhoods and groups can draw attention to this mathematical implausibility by getting school kids especially (the most unlikely targets) as well as other multiple-molest victims educated how to sound off “a thousand”, “a million”, “a billion” any time they are tossed. They can stage street theater near schools instructing kids -- and everybody else – how to sound off. Make especially good TV in front of New York City Hall.
The Sting – the end of stop-and-frisk:
This stop-and-frisk eighth-grade math should then be combined with the exclusionary rule: the US Supreme Court decision that illegally obtained evidence must be thrown out. If cops know in advance that anything they happen across in their unconstitutional meanderings will not be admissible -- that when they get to court the defense will simply scream that the odds are at least a billion to one against the stop-and-frisk having been legitimate – then cops will no longer be in such a hurry to roust multiple parties at once.
The eighth-grade math works just as nicely for a single person who gets stopped multiple times. Police keep a searchable record of all stops. If victim of repeated stops keeps a record of all his dates, times, places and police names and numbers, then, he can use police records to provide the same dismissal of evidence formula.
The odds must be 1,000 to 1 against any one person having a suspicious bulge in their clothing resembling a weapon – justifying a police frisk. Maybe a lot more: never happened to me and I’m ready to turn 70 (and Irish). That makes it at least 1,000,000 to 1 against any two persons thrown up against a wall together being legitimately searched (1,000 X 1,000), 1,000,000,000 to 1 for three, etc.
Offended neighborhoods and groups can draw attention to this mathematical implausibility by getting school kids especially (the most unlikely targets) as well as other multiple-molest victims educated how to sound off “a thousand”, “a million”, “a billion” any time they are tossed. They can stage street theater near schools instructing kids -- and everybody else – how to sound off. Make especially good TV in front of New York City Hall.
The Sting – the end of stop-and-frisk:
This stop-and-frisk eighth-grade math should then be combined with the exclusionary rule: the US Supreme Court decision that illegally obtained evidence must be thrown out. If cops know in advance that anything they happen across in their unconstitutional meanderings will not be admissible -- that when they get to court the defense will simply scream that the odds are at least a billion to one against the stop-and-frisk having been legitimate – then cops will no longer be in such a hurry to roust multiple parties at once.
The eighth-grade math works just as nicely for a single person who gets stopped multiple times. Police keep a searchable record of all stops. If victim of repeated stops keeps a record of all his dates, times, places and police names and numbers, then, he can use police records to provide the same dismissal of evidence formula.
Don’t forget to scream out in court that 7X as many stops-and-frisks (by 2011) were instigated after crime dropped 4X (before Bloomberg) = 28X as many stops-and-frisks per reported crime: case dismissed!
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