ERICKSON: Financial ‘Stop-And-Frisk’ Is Coming Soon

The U.S. Supreme Court in the 1968 case of Terry v. Ohio granted police officers the limited right to stop and ask questions of someone engaged in unusual behavior and reasonably believed to be armed and presently dangerous. If the answers given do not dispel an officer’s reasonable concern for safety, he may inspect the outer garments of the individual for weapons. Commonly called Terry stops or “stop-and-frisk,” these became routine in New York City in the ’90s. Now Democrats intend to deploy them to your bank account. We are all suspects now.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg argued New York’s stop-and-frisk policy directly cut down on crime. At a 2015 Aspen Institute event, Bloomberg defended the program, saying, “Ninety-five percent of murders — murderers and murder victims — fit one M.O. You can just take the description, Xerox it, and pass it out to all the cops. They are male, minorities, 16-25. That’s true in New York. That’s true in virtually every city. And that’s where the real crime is. You’ve got to get the guns out of the hands of people that are getting killed. So you want to spend the money on a lot of cops in the streets. Put those cops where the crime is, which means in minority neighborhoods. So one of the unintended consequences is people say, ‘Oh my God, you are arresting kids for marijuana that are all minorities.’ Yes, that’s true. Why? Because we put all the cops in minority neighborhoods. Yes, that’s true. Why do we do it? Because that’s where all the crime is. And the way you get the guns out of the kids’ hands is to throw them up against the wall and frisk them.”

Members of Congress, the president and the Internal Revenue Service are increasingly concerned that you are now committing tax fraud against the federal government, and they want your banks to throw you against the wall and frisk you. A lot of Americans deal in cash or with apps that digitally transfer funds between people. They then deposit the funds into bank accounts. From hairdressers to housekeepers and from drivers to plumbers, everyone is now a suspected tax cheat. Like stop-and-frisk, this will disproportionately impact minorities and white blue-collar workers, all of whom participate more significantly in the gig economy than college-educated white voters.

In a letter to Congress, the Biden administration stated it wants