Mayor Evans rejects ‘stop and frisk’ suggestion from concerned Rochester mother

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Residents of Bartlett Street in Rochester are fed up with the violence in their neighborhood. At least one person has been shot on the street every year for the last five years, and on Sunday, a woman was hit by a bullet while sitting on her porch.

“Stop the killing. Stop the killing,” said Dexter Ellison, a Bartlett Street resident who says he was robbed and nearly killed two years ago.

Another resident suggested they bring back “stop and frisk.”

However, when News10NBC Chief Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean asked Mayor Malik Evans if the city would bring it back, he rejected the idea.

“No. I wouldn’t because we have so much intelligence now,” Evans said. “‘Stop and frisk’ is something sometimes people employ because they feel as though they’re at the end of the rope and they are so frustrated.”

While shootings in July are down by half compared to last year, the violence on Bartlett Street persists. Yesterday, it was Sandra Members’ daughter who was shot while sitting on her porch.

“And I just pray that things get better because no one wants this happening to their family,” Members said.

Other residents echoed her sentiments.

“Can’t even sit out on your porch,” said Monica Gissendanner.

Paulette McEwen, a homeowner in the city, added, “And we should absolutely think about what we’re doing to each other when a person can’t sit on their own porch on a Sunday afternoon and just relax.”

According to data from the NYCLU, at the peak of stop and frisk in New York City in 2011, almost nine out of ten people stopped were never charged with anything.

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