Quinn To File 'Unprecedented' Legal Action To Have Stop-And-Frisk Reforms Implemented

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - New York City Democratic mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn on Sunday unveiled a legal filing to have reforms made to the controversial stop-and-frisk policy take effect.

As WCBS 880's Jim Smith reported, with just a week to go before the primary, Quinn announced plans to take historic legal action to ensure reforms made to stop-and-frisk are not blocked by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"There should be no stay granted," Quinn said. "I don't understand why the mayor is objecting to the court's ruling."

She said that on Tuesday, she'll to file a legal declaration with the federal court, hoping to block Bloomberg's effort to put on hold a judge's recommended reforms to stop-and-frisk, including a federal monitor.

"We're going to do every legal thing we possibly can to make sure the city is not granted a stay and that the city begins immediately implementing the recommendations of the court," said Quinn.

Bloomberg and police commissioner Ray Kelly have fiercely defended stop-and-frisk as an important tool in driving down violent crime across the city. The Bloomberg administration said it is confident the judge's ruling on stop-and-frisk will be overturned on appeal.

Quinn on Sunday said filing what she calls an unprecedented legal action a week before the primary election has nothing to do with earning votes, but rather falls in line with the timing of the courts.

The City Council voted late last month to override Mayor Bloomberg's vetoes of a racial profiling measure and a bill to appoint an independent monitor to oversee the department.

Following the override, Bloomberg called the council's actions "an example of election year politics at its very worst and political pandering at its most deadly."

Recent polls have shown New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio in the lead. He has been a vocal critic of the current use of stop-and-frisk.

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