NYS lawmakers have voted to prohibit the New York City Police Department from keeping personal information in its database on individuals who have been stopped and frisked by police without arrest or further legal action.

Sponsors say information from the department’s excessive street stops, mainly of blacks and Latinos who are innocent, also puts them permanently under police suspicion and surveillance.

The NYPD uses the information in the database as a searchable index in crime investigations. Spokesman Paul Browne says it has been instrumental in solving crimes.

The bill needs Gov. David Paterson’s signature to become law.

(Source: WABC)