According to the NYCLU, which filed the suit, "virtually every private apartment building [in the Bronx] is enrolled in the program," and "in Manhattan alone, there are at least 3,895 Clean Halls Buildings." Referring to the NYPD’s own data, the complaint says police conducted 240,000 "vertical patrols" in the year 2003 alone.
If you live in a Clean Halls building, you can’t even go out to take out the trash without carrying an ID – and even that might not be enough. If you go out for any reason, there may be police in the hallways, demanding that you explain yourself, and insisting, in brazenly illegal and unconstitutional fashion, on searches of your person.
Beyond the curfew, the closest approximation to this policy we have in New Orleans is Chief Serpas' perpetual traffic checkpoint program. But that just tends to keep people in their own neighborhoods. The way it's going, though, we're fast approaching a point where the simple act of going outside and talking to people is a suspicious activity.
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