New numbers show fewer New Yorkers complained about the NYPD's heavily debated "stop-and-frisk" strategy in 2011 even as stops went up.
The watchdog Civilian Complaint Review Board released the findings Monday in its yearly report.
The NYPD makes a half-million or more street stops each year, mostly of black and Hispanic men.
The annual total rose about 14 percent last year to more than 680,000. The CCRB says that at the same time, it received 10 percent fewer complaints about the practice.
Civil rights advocates say stop and frisk is illegal and racially biased. Police officials call it a vital crime-fighting tool that has curbed shootings and other violence.
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