Here are some ways to end up in the NYPD's gang database: wear a Yankees hat to the bodega; post "happy birthday, gang" on social media; be seen outside your home in public housing talking to the kid who posted "happy birthday gang."
These are some of the scenarios laid out in a sweeping lawsuit filed today against the City of New York, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, and other top NYPD officials, alleging the NYPD is still systematically violating New Yorkers' rights in its continuation of the racially skewed policing of the stop-and-frisk regime of previous decades.
What are the NYPD's official criteria for inclusion in its gang database? You could be included on the list if two "independent and reliable sources" have a "reasonable belief" that you're in a gang, per NYPD policy. What's a reasonable belief? The NYPD doesn't specify. Could the two "independent and reliable sources be a pair of cops who don't articulate the basis for their "reasonable belief"? Yes.