NEW YORK—The NYPD has frequently stopped people outside of buildings in the Bronx without reason, violating the Fourth Amendment, ruled a U.S. district court judge Tuesday.
Judge Shira Scheindlin ordered a preliminary injunction against the NYPD for a program called Operation Clean Halls, in which landlords granted police officers access to their buildings to help crack down on crime and drug use.
The ruling orders the NYPD to immediately cease performing trespass stops outside TAP buildings in the Bronx “without reasonable suspicion of trespass.” TAP, or Trespass Affidavit Program, is another name for Operation Clean Halls.
“While it may be difficult to say where, precisely, to draw the line between constitutional and unconstitutional police encounters, such a line exists, and the NYPD has systematically crossed it when making trespass stops outside TAP buildings in the Bronx,” she wrote in the ruling.
