N.Y.P.D. Unwilling to Impose Discipline for Stop-and-Frisk, Report Says

At every level, the New York Police Department has failed to punish officers who have violated the rights of people stopped on the street, according to a new report — a failure that reaches all the way to the top of the force.

The document is the most comprehensive independent review of discipline since a landmark court decision in 2013 held that the department’s use of stop-and-frisk violated the Constitution and ordered wide-ranging reforms, including a federal monitor.

It finds that police commissioners during the past decade have routinely reduced discipline recommended for officers found to have wrongly stopped, questioned and frisked people, undermining efforts to curb unconstitutional abuses.

The report by James Yates, a retired New York State judge, was ordered by Judge Analisa Torres of Manhattan federal court and made public on Monday.

Mr. Yates was assigned by the court to conduct a “granular, step-by-step analysis” of the department’s policies and discipline governing stop-and-frisk, a tactic of detaining people on the street that was being used disproportionately against Black and Latino New Yorkers.

The 503-page document that resulted paints a picture of an agency unwilling to impose discipline on an abusive practice that has prompted criticism that the department oppresses many New Yorkers.