As New York City's racist stop-and-frisk policy fades away, the police department has turned to social media as a tool to foreshadow and stomp out violence among young groups of teenagers - and it's working.

Operation "Crew Cut," as it is called, has been more effective as evidenced in the 30 percent decline in shootings this year, according to the New York Times.

"The stop-and-frisk tactic, once the linchpin of the police's efforts to get guns off the streets, is in a steep decline; it has been rejected by the City Council, a federal judge and, most recently, the Democratic voters who supported the mayoral candidacy of Bill de Blasio, an outspoken critic of the tactic," reporters Joseph Goldstein and J. David Goodman said in an article for the New York Times.

New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has applauded the program and says that the rest of the cops seem to like it.

"If I had to point to one reason why the murders and the shootings are down, it is this program," Mr. Kelly said in the NY Times. "And I can tell you that there is a lot of positive feedback from cops."

The critics of the stop and frisk policy have praised the police department for changing their focus, but there are still concerns about the new program. Is it too invasive? Could the social media interactions be taken out of context or codified in a different way than what the police might believe?

The program is still in its beginning stages, so it is still too early to tell. There will be more to know in the future as the program continues to settle in replacement of the stop and frisk policy.