Policing in Newark is Broken | Newark Communities for Accountable Policing

“Repeated civil rights violations make policing less effective and more dangerous.”
– U.S. Department of Justice

As the civil rights experts in the U.S. government have found, police officers police routinely violate the rights of Newarkers:

75% of pedestrian stops lack a constitutional basis.
Black residents are 2.5 times more likely to be stopped, 2.7 times more likely to be subject to searched, and 3.1 times more likely to be frisked.
One out of every five uses of force is excessive and unconstitutional.
The accountability system is broken: from 2007-2012, Internal Affairs sustained only one excessive force allegation out of hundreds.
Newarkers who criticize police or are disrespectful have been detained and arrested.
Thousands of Newarkers have been unconstitutionally stopped by police for milling around or wandering.

Beyond the statistics, the damage done by unlawful policing to public safety and police-community relationships cannot be measured.

When Newarkers feel disrespected by police officers, distrust builds and community safety suffers.