Stop

In 2008, David Ourlicht, who is African-American and Italian, was sitting with a friend in Harlem when he was approached by police, who searched both men and ordered them to the ground. Afterward, Ourlicht became one of four plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit that challenged the legality of the NYPD's controversial “stop and frisk” policy, which clearly involved racial profiling and was manifestly unconstitutional. Spencer Wolff's sober documentary follows the resultant trial up through its 2013 outcome, when a federal judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs (although it wasn't until 2014 that the city withdrew its appeal). Interviews with lawyers, sociological experts, police officers, and ordinary citizens—as well as newsreel footage of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Chief Ray Kelly—supplement coverage of the actual courtroom proceedings. But Wolff also compares the “stop and frisk” system to South Africa's application of apartheid, and personalizes the film by framing the story around Ourlicht and his family. Towards this end, Wolff interviews Ourlicht's Jewish grandfather (who was arrested on his first date with the African-American woman he would later marry), and his biracial father, Italian-American mother, and sister, who testify that discriminatory tactics have long been practiced in NYC. Arriving at a key moment when relations between law enforcement and minorities in America have reached a boiling point, Stop casts a bright light on one aspect of the turmoil while also asking viewers to consider the proper balance between freedom and security. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)