In what circumstances have the police stopped and questioned a group of teenage boys?

In the instant cases the police officers, after being alerted to an impending gang fight at a specific street corner in this city, proceeded to the spot in an attempt to prevent such a fight. When they found ten to twelve boys congregated in a doorway, their questioning the boys as to their addresses and their purpose in being there constituted a procedure essential to preventive police work. That no crime had yet been committed or was being committed at the time they reached the scene did not lessen the obligation of the police to prevent a crime or require them to wait until criminal action appeared imminent. There is no doubt that the right of the police to stop and inquire is [44 Misc.2d 902] justified for a cause less conclusive than that which would sustain an arrest. See People v. Rivera, 14 N.Y.2d 441, 252 N.Y.S.2d 458, 201 N.E.2d 32 (1964).