Judge Allows NYPD Checkpoint Class Action to Proceed

A federal judge ruled last week that New York City public housing residents can proceed with a class action lawsuit against NYC and the New York City Housing Authority for allegedly allowing police to set up checkpoints that routinely violated tenants’ rights in front of their homes.

U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin sided with the Plaintiffs, who claim in the NYPD checkpoint class action lawsuit that NYPD officers “indiscriminately stop and question every person they observe, without objective individualized suspicion of a crime, and unlawfully arrest individuals for trespass without probable cause.”

They go on to claim that the City “failed to supervise and discipline officers” involved in these practices and has not “instituted any follow up procedure or disciplinary action when charges are dismissed or where it is otherwise established that an individual was arrested without probable cause.”

After filing the NYPD checkpoint class action lawsuit in January 2010, the NYPD allegedly revised its checkpoint policy with new language describing how to approach and question those entering public housing sites and budgeted $2.7 million to create a 90-minute training program. The residents, however, say that there is no evidence showing the training reduced the alleged civil right violations.

In her ruling, Judge Scheindlin sided with the residents, writing, “As Plaintiffs point out, Defendants have provided no ‘admissible evidence, statistics, or reports demonstrating that the violations articulated in the Complaint have been resolved,’ let alone completely and irrevocably eradicated… Even assuming that the challenged conduct has ceased, Plaintiffs have no concrete assurances that Defendants will not resume their allegedly unlawful arrest and trespass enforcement practices.”