Elected officials, religious, and community leaders rallied on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on Sunday against the New York City Police Department’s “Stop and Frisk” policy, days after the Manhattan Borough Board approved a resolution asking for reform.

NYPD statistics show police made nearly 700,000 stop-and-frisks last year, a 14-percent increase from the year before.

Protesters said the policy unfairly targets black and Latino men.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne released a statement on Sunday that says, “Stops save lives. Over the past 10 years, there were 5,430 murders in New York City, compared to 11,058 in the decade before Mayor Bloomberg took office. That’s a remarkable achievement — 5,628 lives saved — attributable to proactive policing strategies that included stops.”

(Source: NY1)