The police and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg have maintained that stop and frisk has helped keep the city's crime rate at historic lows.

WSJ: Judge Halts a Stop-and-Frisk Tactic

But city officials, including New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg, continue to defend stop-and-frisk.

NPR: The Difficulties Of Proving Racial Profiling

The tactic has existed in some form for decades, but the volume of stops increased dramatically under Mayor Michael Bloomberg and about 5 million stop and frisks have been made during the past decade.

WSJ: NYPD street stop policy's critics seek big changes