here in new york city heading over to the bronx to meet a guy named michael torres who was arrested over two years ago for criminal possession of a small amount of marijuana and the reason this is important is that he is just one of about fifty thousand people who were arrested that year on similar marijuana charges under a policing strategy know this stop and frisk. in new york police have been stopping and frisking suspects for as long as there has been a police force but during the late one nine hundred ninety s. the giuliani administration made the tactic a central part of its aggressive policing. strategy we were allowing small things to get worse rather than the dealing with the earliest possible stage stop question and frisk is an application of the broken windows theory a crime fighting strategy which argues that if a police force can cut down on petty crimes like vandalism and panhandling then bigger crimes like robbery and murder will be reduced there is just no question that stop question frisk has saved countless lives as recently as one thousand nine hundred ninety new york

on the ground ok for those pieces in september two thousand and eleven michael torres was stopped by the police on the way to a job interview. so tell me what happened yeah like i was saying i was coming down fordo solis one ninety seven and they kind of turned a corner there this way and as soon as they saw me the right informed we they came from both ends of the call. they show me their bad. and i hope you and he's a you know a police officer i asked why did they stop and he just said oh we just saw you walking too fast and we saw that suspicious he said come here and they grabbed me bag me over here though me against the wall and the pockets made me take my snake is well thought somebody who. should not pass so check my paperwork because that's what i'm going to an interview. with then my sweater and shook it. back my sleeve i don't. well you know we i asked him am i going to be the best to fight and he said what do you think. it sounds like an open and shut case but the marijuana possession law in new york mandates that the drugs must be in plain view it's my understanding that y

but unlike michael torres shelton believe that fighting the charge was a dead end when they put that charge on you god. is not you can do it has a mandatory time. and that extra enhancement on the sands means you've got to plead out because you're not going to risk eight ten twelve years in prison. shelton pled guilty and was given two years of probation he and his brothers are all out of jail now their mother barbara is glad they survived what do you say to people who think drug free zones around schools are a good idea if the law was truly about that about keeping drug dealers away from kids would be i would be the first in line to say yes we need to. look behind with fifteen hundred feet. look at the outcome of what he does and then try to open your mind and think there's something else going on besides trying to protect our kids. that's just how it's done on a tourist case he has been coming to court since september two thousand and eleven so we're keeping our fingers crossed for tomorrow and hopefully he'll finally goes to court. to face we're going to throw good to see you so i

but i'm like michael torres shelton believe that fighting the charge was a dead end when they put that charge on you they got she. was not you can do it has a mandatory time. and that extra enhancement on the sands means you've got to plead out because you're not going to risk eight ten twelve years in prison. shelton pled guilty and was given two years of probation he and his brothers are all out of jail now their mother barbara is glad they survived what do you say to people who think drug free zones around schools are a good idea if the law was truly about that about keeping drug dealers away from kids would be i would be the first in line to say yes we need to. look behind with fifteen hundred feet. look at the outcome of what he does and then try to open your mind and think there's something else going on besides trying to protect our kids from drunks. this is how it's done on a tourist case he has been coming to court since september two thousand and eleven so we're keeping our fingers crossed for tomorrow and hopefully he'll finally goes to court. today so i'm going to throw goo

here in new york city heading over to the bronx to meet a guy named michael torres who was arrested over two years ago for criminal possession of a small amount of marijuana and the reason this is important is that he is just one of about fifty thousand people who were arrested that year on similar marijuana charges under a policing strategy know this stop and frisk. in new york police have been stopping and frisking suspects for as long as there has been a police force but during the late one nine hundred ninety s. the giuliani administration made the tactic a central part of its aggressive policing. strategy we were allowing small things to get worse rather than the dealing with the earliest possible stage stop question and frisk is an application of the broken windows theory a crime fighting strategy which argues that if a police force can cut down on petty crimes like vandalism and panhandling then bigger crimes like robbery and murder will be reduced there is just no question that stop question frisk has saved countless lives as recently as one thousand nine hundred new york city av

thousand and eleven scott levy is an attorney for the bronx defender's office and represents michael torres he says the circumstances surrounding torres's arrest fit a familiar profile we essentially did a survey of the. every person charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession in a particular courtroom in the bronx for six months and we saw that really a huge number of these cases the police were manufacturing crime the police were arresting people for misdemeanor marijuana possession which is possessing marijuana in public view when our clients never possessed the marijuana public view they were just in fact had it in their pocket or in a purse or in a backpack or something like that armed with all of this data the bronx defender's office decided to push back in identified fifty four individuals whose civil rights were allegedly violated during a stop and frisk procedure they filed suit against the city of new york over time we started calling them the fighters and we had fifty plus clients who were really just dedicated to challenging the police conduct in their cases and wanted to have