The NYPD made fewer stop-and-frisk stops during the first three months of 2013.

The Wall Street Journal says they dropped 51 percent, compared to the same time last year.

According to police data, over 99,000 stop and frisks were conducted from Jan. 1 through March 31. That’s down from over 203,000.

The stop-and-frisk practice is currently the subject of a civil rights trial in Manhattan federal court.

It’s the practice of stopping, questioning and sometimes patting down people seen as doing something questionable but not necessarily meriting arrest. It’s become a flashpoint as the stops rose dramatically in the last decade, to nearly 700,000 in 2011. They dropped to 533,000 last year.

(AP)