will.” Rowland drew in an uneven, shaky breath and straightened his shoulders as if going into battle. “I’ll see you when this is all over and the first round at Carmichael’s is on me. Hell, I’ll buy one for the whole damn place to celebrate. Now give the phone back to him.”
“Rowland?” The suspect was back on the line.
“Patrick, I’d like to avoid any more violence, so please tell me how I can help you.”
“And you’ll listen? And fix the problem?”
“Tell me what you need and I’ll do my best.”
“That’s not good enough.” Anger crept into the suspect’s tone.
Gemma could feel the conversation already sliding sideways and hurriedly wrote and passed a note to Rowland: Don’t argue with him. Ask him to explain the problem so you can help.
Rowland scanned the note and gave her a curt nod. “Let’s start with the problem, Patrick. It must be something that has you very upset to feel this is your only option.”
The laugh that carried across the line was dark with cynicism. “You might say that.”
“Tell me about it. And then we’ll see how we can help each other.”
The man paused for a moment. The room behind him was silent, as if the hostages were collectively holding their breaths, waiting on his next word. “I want you to reverse the decision on stop-and-frisk.”
Rowland’s head jerked sideways to stare at Gemma in confusion. “This is all about stop-and-frisk?”
Upheld by a Supreme Court ruling in 1968, stop-and-frisk had been a controversial tactic used by police forces for decades, allowing officers to conduct a “reasonable search” of an individual before a potential arrest if they believed that individual to be dangerous. Police officers said it allowed them to find weapons and to protect both themselves and the community. However, members of the public protested that stop-and-frisk perpetuated racial profiling of blacks and Latinos. It had been such a contentious issue in New York City for decades that part of Rowland’s mayoral platform was dedicated to doing away with the practice. After winning the election, city council passed strong legislation against racial profiling and Rowland had worked personally with the NYPD brass to institute a number of new protocols, including de-escalation and bias training, and the use of body cameras by officers.
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