114th Precinct House (NYPD)
Feb. 13, 2020 By Kristen Torres
Astoria saw the highest number of stop-and-frisk incidents by police in Queens last year, according to recently released NYPD data.
The 114th precinct in Astoria reported the greatest number of stops of any of the 16 precincts in Queens in 2019, with 242 incidents.
Nearly 2,500 stops took place across Queens in 2019—a 32 percent jump from the 1,848 stop-and-frisks in the borough the year prior.
New York City as a whole saw a 22 percent increase of the controversial practice, with police frisking 13,459 civilians suspected of being armed or carrying contraband in 2019.
The sharp increase in numbers runs counter to the NYPD’s promise to cut back on the practice, which has been shown to unfairly target minorities. At least 90 percent of stops last year involved people of color, according to the data, and 65 percent of stops didn’t result in an arrest or summons.
114th Precinct boundaries (Astoria and Roosevelt Island)
“This data confirms what we hear from our clients on a daily basis,” said Corey Stoughton of The Legal Aid Society—a social justice law firm in the city.
“Despite court rulings that the City’s practices were unlawful, aggressive stop-and-frisk has made a comeback in New York City,” he added.
The NYPD vowed to scale back its practice after a 2013 federal court ruling deemed it unconstitutional—court officials found that NYPD officers were stopping individuals without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.
But despite an increase in reported stop-and-frisk incidents, a spokesperson for the NYPD said the numbers are unlikely to represent an increase in stops, but rather a reflection of “more accurate and complete reporting.”
“The Department has enhanced its auditing and compliance metrics as well as developed training to address stops and proper reporting,” a NYPD spokesperson said.
Officials with the department also pointed to the reduction in stops from an all-time high of 685,000 in 2011 under then-mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Staten Island saw the largest increase of stop-and-frisks out of all five boroughs, according to the Legal Aid Society, with a 51 percent increase from 2018.
The police precinct in East New York, Brooklyn, however, had the highest amount of stop-and-frisks incidents overall, with 495 suspects searched, according to the data.
The Queens precincts are in different shades of blue
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52 Comments
Thank you NYPD for keeping Astoria safe.
I was a victim of a crime in Astoria in 2019 and went to pick up a police report from the 114th Precinct two days later. After reviewing it, I noticed that on the section listed as reporter (my info) the responding officer had listed my name, gender, age and date of birth correctly but listed my race as ASIAN/PAC.ISL. I am of European descent with a European sounding last name and have never been mistaken for Asian or Islander all my life. When I bought this to the attention of the officer at the front desk he told me that it does not matter and that the precinct was very busy and walked away. Now I did not want to get into it over this especially because this was my first visit to the precinct and first ever burglary but I find it odd that the police document the racial make up of victims in police reports so inaccurately. It should be taken off especially since they are not asking about it like they did with my I.D. My whole point in sharing this is that I do not trust crime statistics when it comes to racial data reporting. Do they ever release the racial make up of victims to the public? I doubt during stop and frisk they are asking the person being questioned/frisked what race they are but they release that to the public. Its just odd.
They should apologize.
At what point do we separate racial discrimination and supporting data?
Astoria has had its share of very bad publicity lately. February is Black History Month and its just sad to read.
My experience with the 114th Precinct is that they will say just about anything or give you wrong information when it comes to filing a police report. Based on my experience and other local residents that had similar experiences, I can only conclude that they do their best to keep the crime numbers down statistically by trying prevent people from filing reports.
What the hell does that mean! Do you have any conclusive evidence the 114 has failed to accurately file reports on crimes in Astoria?
Why don’t you get a lawyer. Take this to the press. Otherwise you’re just a straight up liar troll.
Doing their job !!!!! Leave them alone.
Maybe you people don’t remember but the reason stop and frisk is no longer policy is because many police officers were abusing the “power” to harass people and they got caught. When the city had to provide evidence of its value and that it was not being abused IN COURT (not on the internet) they couldn’t.
Astoria is one of the “coolest” places to visit according to publications. Its is well known for its restaurants, bars and ethnic diversity. Unfortunately, some criminals view Astoria as easy prey and access to victims because of the hundreds of visitors and residents that come from all over city and country due to its close proximity to LGA. If future policing will turn into a basic desk job then we need more police patrolling our streets so they can at least show up faster to crime scenes, file reports and release footage of suspects.
Just thought I would share that I read a recent article on line where the NYPD warns Astoria residents to take precautions agaisnt burglaries. They warn Astoria residents to keep their windows and doors locked and to consider purchasing security systems.
People argue that crime is down in Astoria. One can argue its down some because Astoria saw the highest number of stop-and-frisk incidents by police in Queens last year. It all depends on how you look at things. “65 percent of stops didn’t result in an arrest or summons” or thirty five percentage of stops led an arrest or summons.
Stop question and frisk is a great crime fighting tool if USED AND CONDUCTED CORRECTLY. Good job one14 . Your doing your job. Hats off……
The 114th should apologize to the residents of Astoria. Just like Bloomberg did during one of his Presidential campaign stops for stop and frisk. From what I read African American are supporting him despite his past support.
The crime rate would be hire if stop and frisk did not occur in Astoria in 2019.
Thanks for the 114th Precinct map.
Well wouldn’t the crime rate be even higher without stop and frisk since 35% of the stops resulted in arrests and summons?
On average, from 2002 to 2013, the number of individuals stopped without any convictions was 87.6%. The VAST majority. On the taxpayers dime.
Why are Trump lovers so angry about things they don’t know anything about?
I think the more interesting statistic in that of the 90% of the people of color who were stopped, up to 35% of them were then arrested or given a summons. That’s a very high amount. Seems like they are on to something.
Thirty-five percent of stops resulted in an arrest or summons last year. Let the police do their work. They are not just randomly searching anyone. Police are stationed in certain neighborhoods because of crime. Its like saying police should not have DUI check points during holidays (when people are most likely drink and drive) because it only results in 35% of intoxicated drivers off the streets and its bias towards white people because they own more cars in Astoria.
As a life long resident of Astoria I can tell you we have had our ups and downs in crime. However, since stop and frisk was stopped our parks have been taken over by gangs selling drugs and because they are not afraid of being checked guns have made a come back. Shootings in various parts, burglaries and assaults. Someone here call people names for saying the truth. I see the police frustration because they were unable to perform their job keeping all of us safe
Did you read the article?
Stop-and-frisk never stopped, it has evidently been in practice all this time and Astoria had the most stop-and-frisks in all of Queens!
And just what park has been “taken over by gangs selling drugs”, you life long liar?
Our parks have not been taken over by gangs selling. It is absolutely ridiculously that you are making this claim.
What do you mean you “see police frustration”? What does that even mean?
When used correctly and not abused stop and frisk works just fine. I would rather this then the crap that’s now going on with bail reform. All these politicians did was put the hard working, law abiding, tax paying citizens of this city at a higher risk to have a crime committed against them because they want to cater to criminals and their families thinking they will get their vote and keep them in office. And they wonder why the general public are leaving this city and state in a mass exodus.
I voted for AOC and even I support stop and frisk. But I would expand the program to anybody caught wearing gym wear or pajamas in public, and slippers with socks. The latter would immediately lead to a 3-year prison sentence.
The crime is still high, the data doesn’t lie….
If you think that’s high, then you weren’t here when it actually was high. There were over 7x more murders in 1990 than last year. There were more murders in 1965 than last year!
So 4,710 summons issued or arrested. That’s a very high number of people.
There were 214,617 arrests by the NYPD in 2019
No surprise here. Try being a person of color like my boyfriend living in Astoria. The bias and prejudice is not only from the police but from some residents and business. I got so many no’s from realtors and landlords before i found a place. And that is because I started viewing apartments without my African American boyfriend. I let him move in after i signed the lease. The prejudice we encountered in Astoria is sad. But we fight through it because its cheaper than Brooklyn.
East Flatbush an Canarsie are nice and affordable Brooklyn neighborhoods. Why Astoria if you find everyone so unwelcoming?
Astoria is not unwelcoming . The “born and raised “ racists are.
It’s illegal to deny housing based on race . You should really be asking why is this still happening .
I take things that didn’t happen for $500 Alex. Please
If it was further broken down as to where it occurred on the 114 – I would bet it’s was in Queensbridge
Why the downvotes ??? In 2018 the 114th Precinct Commander admitted that over 90% of all crime committed in this precinct was at the three NYCHA developments located within the 114th boundaries.
Great! Another reason for more hipsters to move in and then claim that they care about police bias as they protest on line and vote for people like AOC.
It’s protest IN line. In all my years teaching English as a second language, I’m shocked that some people still can’t get that right.
Lucille – When the protest is on the internet it’s a protest “on” line.
It is actually “online” if we a really splitting hairs here. 🙂
…if we are really splitting…
Boomers are supposed to be blaming all their problems on “millennials” now
Are you telling me Astoria had an increase in crime AND the highest number of stop-and-frisks in Queens all this time!?!
But according to every idiot troll on this site, stop-and-frisk is what prevents crime…
How could there be more crime while stop-and-frisk was in practice!?
Hmmm, I wonder if it’s because IT DOESN’T WORK!
No the increase is because of the idiots like cuomo etc who pushed through bail reform. Also stop and frisk should just be the beginning. You need a complete broken windows policy to deal with the garbage.
That’s not what I asked.
I asked, how could there be an increase in crime if stop-and-frisk was in practice all all along.
Well this is much less stop and frisk than there would be if the city were pursuing a stop and frisk policy.. which the city is not. The problem is it is not done enough. Not to mention the closing of prisons, the elimination of fines and arrests for various offenses, increase of open use of marijuana etc. I highly doubt stop and frisk is something the police want to do in any case since they risk their life with idiots who think the proper response to a stop and request for ID is to argue with a cop instead of complying promptly which puts the police in a very dangerous situation like we’ve seen in a lot of these videos where somehow it is the cops fault when they are just trying to protect themselves from harm from a non compliant and aggressive person they have stopped. According to wikipedia, 1/2 of the US murders are committed by 13% of the population which speaks to why some may be over represented in stop and frisk, prisons and arrests.
Also, it’s also interesting how all this stop and frisk led to up to 35% being arrested or given a summons. Don’t ya thing that’s a pretty high number? Aren’t you happy that those people were stopped and frisked?
-Tee, When you have the upper hand in a debate there is absolutely no need to lie or embellish. I’ve lived in Astoria all my life (since 1957). One ,yes they want to close Rikers but they’re “replacing”it. Your one sided claim is disingenuous at best. There was way more open marijuana use in the 70’s then today. Even with decriminalization. Would officerThomas Valva fit into your bleeding heart warped rendition of a police stop? I’m not sure if I agree with your unwritten belief a cop has the right to kill a person because somebody didn’t make a cops job easier I’m sorry code word “compliant”.
@Wait -Stop and frisked got them off the streets and bail reform put them right back on the street to reoffend.
Yes, because bail reform went into effect a month ago and suddenly crime everywhere spiked. RIGHT. People could still get out prior to bail reform, they just paid their bail.
If you look at the data, stop and frisk cost money, police lost community support and it led to hardly any convictions. When it stopped, crime continued to drop. So it wasn’t the cause. But sure, let’s have the easy “time to get the garbage” attitude and not talk about issues like real estate discrimination that keep the poor, minority community from getting into the better school districts.
Good for them. Please do it a lot more. Thank you.
Yet the police the stop and frisk Columbia students even though college kids have the highest rate of illegal drug use.
Yea, but Columbia students don’t kill each other, shoot around, rob people on the street