imageNEW YORK: New York City reached Thursday an agreement on Thursday with plaintiffs challenging the controversial stop-and-frisk procedure that violated the constitutional rights of minorities in the city.

The agreement includes a federal court-appointed monitor over the next three years who will oversee the New York Police Department's stop-and-frisk policy.

The monitor also has the power to issue reports to court on the city's enactment of the policy adheres to Constitutional protections.

"We're here today to turn the page on one of the most divisive problems in our city," Mayor Bill de Blasio told a news conference. "For too long, communities of colour have felt under siege by the police, and young Black and Latino men have disproportionately been the target," he said.

A judge ruled last year that the New York Police Department had discriminated against blacks and Hispanics when stopping, questioning and sometimes frisking people on the street. The judge ordered major reforms to the department's implementation of the policy.

The then-Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, appealed the decision. But de Blasio, who took office at the beginning of the year, is now seeking to drop the appeal.

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