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Comment by aaronbrethorst | Hacker News Reader

Of course, right next to this on the NYT homepage is another article entitled "'Stop-and-Frisk Ebbs, but Still Hangs Over Brooklyn Lives": http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/20/nyregion/friskings-ebb-but...

    As part of a new strategy called Omnipresence,
    the officers now stand on street corners like
    sentries, only rarely confronting young men
    and patting them down for weapons.

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Interesting, I wasn't aware that this was due to new policy. I've definitely noticed a dramatically increased police presence on the streets of New York, especially in poorer neighborhoods near gentrifying areas. I also frequently witness police stopping traffic to randomly select cars for some sort of odor/ballistics residue testing. As a resident of Philadelphia, where I seldom see police outside their vehicles, it all feels slightly draconian and disconcerting. I can only imagine what this presence feels like to someone other than a young, white male. I've never felt unsafe in any of these neighborhoods prior to the new "Omnipresence" strategy.

> As part of a new strategy called Omnipresence

This reads like a cheesy dystopian sci-fi novel.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon

“a mill for grinding rogues honest”

Seems better than stop-and-frisk. In fact I wonder if the name isn't meant to try to convince the officers on the street that the city is not stripping them of their power.

Huh, I was driving by the Marcy projects today and was wondering what the cops were doing just hanging out.

Reminds me of London's "Secure Beneath the Watchful Eyes" campaign: http://archive.wired.com/politics/security/news/2002/11/5615...

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