Stop and frisk
A street stop is a seizure and a frisk is a search, and both are governed by the Fourth Amendment. In New York City they are also governed by the Right to Know Act, which since 2018 has required an officer to identify themselves, hand over a business card, and warn you that you may refuse a consent search, and by the City's 2021 civil rights law, which removed the qualified immunity defense for an NYPD stop or search. This page goes through what the record of a stop should contain, the claims a stop can support, and, plainly, the one rule about stops that this site does not publish.
Most stops end with no arrest and no paperwork the person ever sees, and most people assume that means no claim. It does not. A stop that was not justified is an unlawful seizure; a frisk that was not justified is an unlawful search; and in New York City the officer's own conduct during the stop is governed by a local law that produces a record, or should. This page is honest about its limits. The constitutional standard for the stop itself is not published here, for the reason given below. What is published is everything our verified ledger carries about what an officer must do, what you may do, and what the City's own law adds.
What an officer needs, and what this site does not publish
A stop, a frisk and an arrest are three different intrusions with three different standards. The standard at the arrest end is published on this site and is the one that decides many stop cases, because a stop that ends in an arrest is judged by whether the arrest was supported: probable cause on the totality of the circumstances known to the officer, taken as a whole rather than one fact at a time (District of Columbia v. Wesby, 583 U.S. 48 (2018)), for any offense the officer knew of, not only the one announced (Devenpeck v. Alford, 543 U.S. 146 (2004)). Where the stop became an arrest, the false arrest page goes through the claim.
The stop standard is not published here
The standard an officer needs for a stop short of an arrest, usually called reasonable suspicion, and the separate standard for a frisk, come from Supreme Court decisions that are not yet in this site's verified ledger. Every legal rule on this site is published only after it has been checked against the primary source, and we do not cite from memory. So this page does not state the stop standard or the frisk standard. We will add them when the sweep is done. In the meantime the question of whether your stop was justified is answered at the consultation, from the cases, and not from this page.
What can be said here is structural. Section 1983 (42 U.S.C. § 1983) gives a cause of action to any person deprived of a federal right by someone acting under color of state law, and the Fourth Amendment forbids unreasonable seizures and unreasonable searches. A stop is a seizure. A frisk is a search. Each is judged on what the officer knew before it began, and each can be a claim on its own.
The Right to Know Act: what the record of a stop should contain
The Right to Know Act is two local laws, Local Law 54 of 2018 and Local Law 56 of 2018, both effective October 19, 2018. They do not change the constitutional standard. They change what an NYPD officer must do during a stop, and in doing so they create the record on which a stop claim is built.
| Law | What the officer must do | Why it matters to a claim |
|---|---|---|
| Local Law 54 of 2018 (identification) | Identify themselves by name, rank, command and shield number; give a business card with information on how to complain and how to request body-worn camera footage | Names the officer for the notice of claim and the complaint; tells you where the footage is; a refusal is itself a fact for the record |
| Local Law 56 of 2018 (consent searches) | Before a search that depends on your consent, advise you that you may refuse, and document the consent | A consent the officer relies on should be on the footage, with the warning; where it is not, the consent is in question |
Whether the Act gives a private right to sue for its own violation is not a question we publish an answer to, because it is not in our verified ledger. Its value in a civil case is evidentiary and procedural: it names the officer, it points to the footage, and it sets a standard of conduct against which what the footage shows can be measured. Body-worn camera footage is requested by FOIL, and the business card must tell you where. Request preservation in writing immediately; the NYPD's own retention period is not published here because we have not verified it. The evidence page goes through the request.
What you may do, and what the City's law adds
The right to record
Under New York Civil Rights Law § 79-p, effective July 14, 2020, a person not under arrest has the right to record law enforcement activity and to keep the recording. An officer may not prevent the recording, threaten you for it, order you to stop, or arrest you for it. The statute gives a civil action for damages, including punitive damages and attorney's fees, with a three-year limit. A recording of your own stop is the one piece of evidence the department does not control. Keep it. Where the stop or the arrest was retaliation for recording, the retaliatory arrest page goes through that claim.
Bias-related intimidation
Where a stop was accompanied by violence or intimidation because of your actual or perceived race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation, New York Civil Rights Law § 79-n gives a civil action for injunctive relief and damages, with attorney's fees in the court's discretion. The Attorney General may also enforce the section, with a civil penalty of up to $5,000; that figure is a civil penalty payable to the State, not damages to you.
The City's 2021 law: no qualified immunity for an NYPD stop or search
New York City's own civil rights law creates a right of security against unreasonable search and seizure and against excessive force, enforceable against an NYPD employee or special patrolman and against the City as employer, including for a failure to intervene (N.Y.C. Admin. Code §§ 8-801, 8-802, 8-803). "It is not a defense to liability that a covered individual has qualified immunity or any other substantially equivalent immunity" (§ 8-804). Exhaustion of administrative remedies is not required (§ 8-803), damages include attorney's fees and, at the plaintiff's election, a statutory figure of $1,000 (§ 8-805), and the limitation period is three years (§ 8-806). The chapter is construed consistently with the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments and article I, sections 6 and 12 of the New York Constitution (§ 8-807). A stop is a seizure and a frisk is a search, so an NYPD stop is within it. The city law page explains what it does and does not change.
The CCRB, the clock, and the criminal case
A complaint to the Civilian Complaint Review Board is the usual first step after a stop, and it is not a lawsuit. The CCRB investigates and recommends discipline; it does not award damages or file lawsuits. NYPD discipline must be commenced within 18 months of the incident (N.Y. Civ. Serv. Law § 75(4)), the CCRB treats a complaint filed more than a year after the incident as late and investigable at the Chair's discretion, and it advises filing as soon as possible. The CCRB page explains how a complaint helps and hurts a civil case, and how it is timed around an open charge.
If a criminal charge came out of the stop and is still open, talk to your defense lawyer before describing the stop or the officers to anyone, in writing or otherwise, including to the CCRB. The criminal case and civil case page explains why.
The clocks
A stop or search claim accrues on the day it happened. In New York the federal claim has three years (Owens v. Okure, 488 U.S. 235 (1989); N.Y. CPLR 214(5)) and needs no notice of claim (Felder v. Casey, 487 U.S. 131 (1988)). A state-law claim against the City of New York needs a notice of claim within 90 days of the stop (N.Y. Gen. Mun. Law § 50-e(1)(a)) and suit within one year and 90 days (§ 50-i(1)). The City law claim and the right-to-record claim each have three years (§ 8-806; Civ. Rights Law § 79-p). Where the stop became an arrest, the federal false arrest claim accrues at arraignment or release (Wallace v. Kato, 549 U.S. 384 (2007)). The notice of claim page goes through the rule.
New Jersey and Florida
The Fourth Amendment claim is the same in all three states. The Right to Know Act, the City's 2021 law and Civil Rights Law § 79-p are New York law and do not travel. In New Jersey the federal claim and the New Jersey Civil Rights Act claim have two years (N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2; 10:6-2), and a state tort claim against a public entity needs a Tort Claims Act notice within 90 days of accrual, a six-month wait, and suit within two years (N.J.S.A. 59:8-8); the notice does not apply to the Civil Rights Act claim (Owens v. Feigin, 194 N.J. 607 (2008)). In Florida the federal claim has four years (Fla. Stat. § 95.11(3)), and a state claim against the agency needs written notice within three years with a six-month wait before suit (Fla. Stat. § 768.28(6)), with damages against the government capped at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident (§ 768.28(5)(a)). The New Jersey and Florida pages go through each.
When the stop became an arrest
Probable cause, the defenses, and why the New York clock runs before the criminal case ends.
False arrest →Your home, your car, your phone
The 2026 emergency-aid and geofence decisions, consent under the Right to Know Act, and the City's own search law.
Unlawful search →The CCRB and a lawsuit
What the Board does and does not do, its clock, and how a complaint is timed around an open charge.
The CCRB →Common questions
What does an officer need to stop me on the street?
The legal standard for a stop short of an arrest, usually called reasonable suspicion, and the separate standard for a frisk, are not published on this site. The Supreme Court decisions that set them are not yet in our verified ledger, and we do not cite from memory. What this site does publish is the standard at the arrest end, probable cause on the totality of the circumstances, and the New York City rules that govern what an officer must do during a stop. Ask us about the stop standard directly; we will answer from the cases.
The officer refused to give a name or a card. What does that mean?
Under Local Law 54 of 2018, an NYPD officer who stops you must identify themselves by name, rank, command and shield number and offer a business card that tells you where to complain and how to request body-worn camera footage. A refusal is a fact for the record: it goes into the CCRB complaint and it goes into the civil case as evidence of how the stop was conducted. Whether the Act itself gives a private right to sue for the refusal is not a question we publish an answer to; it is not in our verified ledger.
Can I record the stop?
Yes. Under New York Civil Rights Law 79-p, a person not under arrest has the right to record law enforcement activity and to keep the recording, and an officer may not prevent it, threaten you for it, order you to stop, or arrest you for it. The statute gives a civil action for damages, including punitive damages and fees, with a three-year limit. Keep the recording, and do not delete anything.
I was stopped, frisked and released. Is there a claim?
Possibly two. If the stop or the frisk was unlawful, there is a Fourth Amendment claim under Section 1983 and, for an NYPD stop, a claim under the City's 2021 law, which has no qualified immunity defense and a three-year limit. A release does not close either. The clock on both runs from the day of the stop, and a state-law claim against the City needs a notice of claim within 90 days of it.
Tell us what happened.
One conversation with an attorney, in your language. We tell you which claims the facts support, which deadline runs first for the agency involved, what evidence to preserve this week, and whether a pending criminal case changes the timing. If it is not a case we can take, we say so and tell you where to go.
(718) 484-7510If a criminal charge is still open, talk to your defense lawyer before you describe the arrest to anyone, including us. English, Russian and Spanish in-house; an interpreter for any other language. Contingency fee, confirmed in writing before we begin.