Has 'Gang Policing' Replaced Stop-and-Frisk?

Flash bang grenades exploding, helicopter rotors sputtering—these were the sounds Paula Clarke woke up to one morning last April. “At first I thought we were being attacked by ISIS,” said Clarke at a recent panel in West Harlem. “It’s a nightmare from which I have still not awoken.” The pre-dawn intrusion was, in fact, a law enforcement operation looking for alleged gang members in Clarke’s Bronx neighborhood of Williamsbridge—including her son, who did not live there at the time.

That day, over 700 agents from the NYPD and a host of federal agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, swarmed the predominantly African-American neighborhood. The operation ended in 120 indictments and 88 arrests on charges of racketeering conspiracy, narcotics conspiracy, narcotics distribution, and firearms offenses. Clarke’s son was eventually arrested, and she says she has not been able to see him for over four months.