Nearly nine out of 10 people `` stopped and frisked '' under a controversial New York Police Department policy in 2011 were African-American or Hispanic . The data comes from a report released by the NYPD Monday , which showed that of the 685,724 stops made by police that year , 53 % of those questioned were black , 34 % were Latino , 9 % were white and 3 % were Asian . The citywide population in 2011 was 23.4 % black , 29.4 % Hispanic , 12.9 % Asian , and 34.3 % non-Hispanic white , according to the report . N.Y. judge halts 'stop-and-frisk ' tactic outside Bronx building . Brooklyn 's 75th precinct , which includes East New York and Cypress Hills , had the most `` stop and frisk '' incidents with 31,100 . Of those , 97 % of the people involved were either black or Hispanic . The population in that precinct in 2011 was 53.5 % black , 37.9 % Hispanic , 5.1 % Asian , and 3.5 % white . The top reason for stop-and-frisks in 2011 was for suspicion of weapons possession , accounting for more than 25 % of all stops . The much-criticized method , in which police stop , question and possibly search those they consider suspicious , is used to deter crime , the police department has said . But it has also brought on a slew of lawsuits by residents complaining of unlawful stops . Last year , amid mounting public pressure from advocacy groups , New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly outlined new police policies in an effort to `` increase public confidence . '' New York police tout improving crime numbers to defend frisking policy . Under the policies , officers report all `` stop and frisk '' encounters at a local level , and are provided training curriculum and videos , Kelly said . There are also programs reaching out to the community , he said . Kelly said at the time that the department prohibits racial profiling and aims to ensure a `` greater level of scrutiny '' by having captains of precincts `` personally conducting an audit of the Stop , Question and Frisk report worksheets that have been prepared within his or her command . '' The NYPD report did not list how many of the stop-and-frisks resulted in arrests .
The New York Police Department releases figures on its `` stop and frisk '' policy . The controversial program has sparked lawsuits for unlawful stops . Police say it 's not a matter of racial profiling , but of deterring crime . One-quarter of the stops were for suspicion of weapons possession .