The NYPD's new commissioner announced on Wednesday that there has been a significant decline in the amount of stop and frisks executed between 2012 and 2013.
Commissioner William Bratton announced a 60 percent decrease in the controversial search method, which allows New York City police officers to stop and search any person they see fit, regardless of whether that citizen presents a threat.
Officers reportedly logged around 194,000 stops in 2013 - a sharp turn from 2012's 533,000 stops.
Bratton also stated during a meeting on community policing in Midtown Manhattan that the highest number of stop and frisks were 694,000 in 2011, according to the Wall Street Journal.
"The problem has been more or less solved," Bratton told attendees of the conference. "Clearly it is in decline, and I believe that is a good thing. The number of stops has fallen dramatically and in some instances, it has stopped altogether. Stop and frisk has been stopped in some neighborhoods altogether."
Former commissioner Ray Kelly was one of stop and frisk's biggest advocates, and publicly stated his support of the legislation on multiple occasions. But officials have largely changed courses on police tactics, since Bratton took the position and a federal court found stop and frisk unconstitutional, in addition to discriminatory against blacks and Latinos, who comprise the bulk of the people stopped for search.
