Our Mission & Focus
The Monitor Team works to ensure that the NYPD engages in constitutional stops, frisks, and searches.
The Monitor Team’s focus is on the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk practices, as well as its trespass enforcement. The Monitor Team regularly assesses the NYPD’s compliance and publicly files reports with the court detailing their findings.
Know Your Rights
When you are stopped, frisked, and/or searched by a New York City police officer, you have certain rights.
Who We Are
Latest Report
On October 22, 2025, the Monitor filed its Twenty-Seventh Report, a compliance snapshot of the NYPD’s stop, frisk, and search practices, with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Highlights include the following:
- There has been little improvement in overall compliance compared to the fourth quarter of 2023. The Monitor’s audit showed that 89% of reported Terry stops, 71% of frisks during Terry stops, and 73% of searches were lawful.
- Most NYPD commands to not have compliance rates for lawful stops, frisks, and searches above 85%. 61% of commands had a compliance rate below 85% for frisks, and 69% of commands were below the threshold for searches.
- Compliance was weak for self-initiated stops, frisks, and searches. Only 81% of self-initiated stops, 62% of frisks during self initiated stops, and 60% of searches during self-initiated stops were lawful; compared to 96%, 94%, and 81% of stops, frisks, and searches initiated by a 311 or 911 call.
- Underreporting remains a problem. Officers did not complete a stop report for 28% of stops in the audit. However, this represented a slight improvement in stop reporting from fourth quarter 2023, when 37% of the stops identified in the Monitor’s audits were unreported.
- Reviewing supervisors rarely identified any stop, frisk, or search as unlawful. In the fourth quarter of 2023, reviewing supervisors found only 1% of stops, 1% of frisks, and 3% of reviewed searches to be unlawful–compared to 11%, 29%, and 27% as determined by the Monitor.
