Jerry Nadler (Photo: Facebook)

Congressman Jerrold Nadler was one of the politicians who attended yesterday's protest march against the NYPD's stop and frisk policy. He told The Politickerhe believes stop and frisk is "terribly violative of civil liberties" and, like other elected officials, he hopes the Department of Justice will investigate the policy.

However, Mr. Nadler is not optimistic about the possibility of a federal investigation because he said the DOJ didn't respond to his call for them to investigate the NYPD's conduct towards protesters and journalists during the raid on the Occupy Wall Street encampment in Zuccotti Park last November.

"I must say, the Justice Department has not been terribly responsive when some of us have asked for investigations for various things," Mr. Nadler said.

Mr. Nadler went on to say one of the requests he was referring to was his push for a probe into the NYPD's handling of the Occupy Wall Street eviction.

"We never got a satisfactory response," he said of his call for an Occupy investigation. "I think we got a response, it was not satisfactory."

At the time, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the idea of an investigation into police conduct during the Occupy Wall Street raid was "ridiculous."

Mr. Nadler said he and other members of Congress are working ot have stop and frisk investigated as a civil rights violation.

"A whole generation of mostly minority black and hispanic youngsters, number one, are to some extent traumatized, number two, their civil liberties, their civil right to walk down the street in peace are violated and, number three, you alienate entire communities from the police department," said Mr. Nadler. "That's all terrible for the City as well as terribly violative of civil liberties."

Mr. Nadler said he rejects Mayor Bloomberg and the NYPD's claim the policy has helped reduce crime in the face of statistics showing the vast majority of stops don't lead to arrests or the discovery of illegal weapons. He presented a hypothetical situation to illustrate his position.

"The Mayor's rationale is that, well, you know, even though 90 percent find nothing, are totally innocent and out of 700,000 stops we got 600 guns, it's worth it," he said. "I mean, sure, if you suddenly used police state tactics and cordoned off--you suddenly unconstitutionally decided that we're going to send in people and inspect without a warrant every apartment in a given neighborhood, I'm sure youd find a few guns. But we wouldn't countenance that, nor should we countenance this. It's exactly as unconstitutional and exactly as illegal."

We asked Mr. Nadler whether he thought the investigation Attorney General Eric Holder is facing of the botched "Fast and Furious" program that saw weapons sent to criminals in Mexico in an ill-fated attempt to investigate drug cartels might prevent the DOJ from taking on potentially controversial investigations of the NYPD. Mr. Nadler said he couldn't be certain, but though the "Fast and Furious" flap is "distracting," he doesn't think it hinders the DOJ's ability to conduct investigations.

"I assume they're in a position to take on investigations," said Mr. Nadler. "I don't think it takes up all their manpower and womanpower. But I'm only speculating, maybe it does."

Members of the delegation of New York elected officials in front of the U.S. Capitol Building.

A delegation of elected officials from New York is currently in Washington D.C. to express their concerns about the NYPD’s controversial stop and frisk policy and ask the Department of Justice to investigate the program as a civil rights violation.

Multiple sources have confirmed to The Politicker that Attorney General Eric Holder met with leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus yesterday to discuss the issue. A source on Capitol Hill also told us that, at that meeting, Mr. Holder expressed his interest in investigating stop and frisk.

Officially, Mr. Holder and the Department of Justice have not made any decision about whether they will investigate the program, which resulted in a record 684,330 people being stopped last year, the vast majority of whom were minorities. Councilman Jumaane Williams, who was part of the delegation that traveled to Washington, told The Politicker the Department of Justice is considering several options.

"It seems to be more a question of finding a way for them to do something than if they will do something," Mr. Williams said. "I was asking for them to do three or four things; a full investigation of the NYPD, being an intervener or filling an amicus brief or letter of support when it comes to the litigation against stop and frisk or to help us and find some way to support us on any of the legislative solutions were working on on the city and state levels. They didn't balk at any of it, they're interested in all of it."

Mr. Williams also said there were "no commitments made" and that the Department of Justice seemed to be looking for options other than a full-fledged investigation.

"One thing they said is that an investigation can be very lengthy and they might want to do something sooner rather than later," said Mr. Williams.

Mr. Holder previously discussed a potential stop and frisk investigation when he was questioned about the policy by Bronx Congressman José Serrano.

"We have looked at a variety of, 18 is the number now, of police departments who have engaged in practices that are inconsistent with the way in which they're supposed to serve the people that they represent," Mr. Holder said. "If we find that this is a problem in New York, it is something that we will investigate. It is something, at this point, that I don't think that we have an open investigation, but it is not something that we are not cognizant of."

If Mr. Holder does launch an investigation into stop and frisk, it will not be his first investigation of the NYPD. In March, he launched an investigation into the department's controversial Muslim surveillance program.

As of this writing, neither the NYPD or the Attorney General's office has responded to requests to comment on this story.

Members of the stop and frisk delegation including State Senator Adriano Espaillat, Councilwoman Mellissa Mark-Viverito and Assemblyman Karim Camara meeting with officials in Washington.

A number of New York City and State elected officials are in Washington D.C. this afternoon to address their concerns about the NYPD's controversial stop and frisk policy. They are calling on the Department of Justice to investigate the NYPD's use of stop and frisk as a civil rights violation.  The NYPD stopped a record number of people last year, the vast majority of whom were minorities.

“New Yorkers are fed up with this policy that continually targets our communities,” Assemblyman Karim Camara, Chairman of the New York State Black Puerto Rican Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus said in a statement. “The numbers tell a tragic story. One recent report said that more young black men were stopped than actually lived in the city.  We cannot get away from the fact that there is implicit racial bias in this tactic used by the NYPD.  Since City officials refuse to listen, we are taking our cause to Washington.  It’s time for some high-powered back up to advocate for the civil rights of New Yorkers.”

The delegation is holding closed-door meetings with members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Congressional Progressive Caucus. They also delivered a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder.

“Last year alone, New York City Officers stopped 684,330 people under the stop-and-frisk policy. This amounted to a 14 percent jump from the previous year. Even more shocking is the 600 percent increase in stops made since the data collection began in 2002," the letter said. "Most of those who are stopped are not arrested or even issued a summons; further igniting concern that the policy amounts to nothing more than racial profiling and harassment.”

Members of the delegation included Mr. Camara, Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman, Congressman Charlie Rangel, Mr. Rangel's primary opponent in the 13th District, State Senator Adriano Espaillat, Councilman Jumaane Williams and several other members of the State Legislature and New York City Council.

"'Stop and Frisk' is an assault on the civil rights of New Yorkers," said Mr. Espaillat, who is Chair of the State Senate's Latino Caucus. "It harms law and order by creating distrust between police and local communities; it violates the civil liberties of individuals who are stopped without rhyme or reason; and it violates every notion of justice and due process our society is built on. The Federal Government has an important role to play in protecting the rights of citizens and we are calling on the Justice Department to step in and stop this unconstitutional and unjust practice from continuing."