New York Governor David Paterson has signed a measure that will end the storage of hundreds of thousands of names of people who were stopped and frisked by police without facing charges. Over 500,000 people were questioned under “stop and frisk” last year, the vast majority African Americans and Latinos. Paterson said maintaining a database of their names violates basic democratic principles.

Gov. David Paterson: “It disallows the use of personal data from innocent people who have not done anything wrong. They may be suspicious. They may be thought to be future threats. But that is not a policy for a democracy.”

In a statement, Donna Lieberman of the New York Civil Liberties Union praised the move, saying, “Innocent people stopped by the police for doing nothing more than going to school, work or the subway should not become permanent criminal suspects.”