A record-high number of people were stopped and questioned by police last year, but fewer people have been getting summonses lately.
A closer look at police data released this week shows the number of people issued summonses dipped about 20% during the last quarter of 2010 – compared to the previous three months.
Cops issued 9,170 summonses to the 144,598 people stopped between October and December, a 19.7% drop citywide.
Sources said the reasons are varied, including fear over a class-action lawsuit filed in January 2010 alleging tenants and visitors at housing projects are more likely to get stopped and hit with trespassing arrests.
A Manhattan judge ruled in December that housing officers appeared to stop people in public housing without legal justification.
“It was decided that too many summonses were given out, particularly in public housing, so cops were told not to hand out so many summonses, especially trespass,” a Manhattan supervisor said.
East Harlem’s 23rd Precinct, which led the city in summonses for the second half of 2010, saw a 56% drop during the last quarter compared with the July through September reporting period.
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