Article by Joe Kemp.

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Mario Tama/Getty

More than 317,000 people were stopped, questioned and sometimes frisked from Jan. 1 to June 30, NYPD stats show.

NYPD cops have stopped and questioned people at an increasing rate this year that could lead the department to set an all-time high by year’s end.

More than 317,000 people were stopped, questioned and sometimes frisked from Jan. 1 to June 30, NYPD stats show.

That’s a 13.5% increase compared to the first half of last year, which ended with a record number of people – 601,055 – stopped and questioned.

“Incredibly, the NYPD keeps setting historic highs for the number of people being stopped and frisked” said Christopher Dunn, associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.

Dunn charged that cops are mainly targeting blacks and Latinos in the stops.

“Stops save lives,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne responded, saying stops and other techniques have saved the lives of “2,500 young men of color” in the last 10 years.