Washington – New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio warned Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Thursday against embracing the “stop and frisk” police tactic that he said would worsen relations between police and community in the country.
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Trump has praised the anti-crime tactic in which police stop, question and search pedestrians for weapons or contraband and said on Fox News on Thursday it “massively changed” the crime statistics in New York City.
“Stop and frisk worked,” Trump said on Fox & Friends on Thursday. He said the crime-ridden city of Chicago needed to adopt the tactic.
De Blasio rejected that claim and attributed the sharp drop in crime to another strategy adopted by Bill Bratton, the city’s longtime police commissioner who retired less than a week ago.
Bratton championed the “broken windows” policing strategy that emphasizes pursuit of crimes no matter how minor. In his resignation letter he attributed the decline in crime in New York City, the nation’s largest with 8.5 million people, to additional officers and an emphasis on building bonds within neighborhoods.
“Donald Trump talks about stop and frisk like he knows the facts,” de Blasio said in an interview with CNN. “He has had no experience with policing, no experience with public safety.
“He should really be careful because if we reinstitute stop and frisk all over this country, you would see a lot more tension between police and community.”
Police tactics and deadly encounters with African-Americans, many of them unarmed, have sparked protests and unrest across the country. A state of emergency was declared in Charlotte, North Carolina, after a second night of unrest sparked by the fatal police shooting of a black man.
There have also been protests in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in recent days after a police officer was arrested in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man who a video shows had his hands in clear view at the time.
The stop and frisk policy gained traction in New York City under Mayor Rudy Giuliani, now a top Trump supporter. De Blasio promised to end the practice during his 2013 mayoral campaign.
De Blasio also credited the continued drop in crime in New York City in recent decades to a crime reduction strategy adopted by the Bratton called CompStat, which adopts statistical strategies to achieve more effective policing.
“That’s what changed things in New York City,” de Blasio said, adding crime has gone down in the three years since his administration curtailed the use of stop and frisk.
Crime has goes down because the mayor eliminated stop and frisk?? Really? We all know that the NYPD knows how to fudge the crime stats to please the mayor and his ilk.
Thanks for the endorsement Deblasio. Obama said that if Trump wins he will turn back all the “progress” he accomplished. Thanks Obama for endorsement. Keep them coming.
A. Stein
“Given my level of discomfort with the current leftist orientation of the Democratic Party, I am now supporting Republican nominee Donald Trump for president. I urge my fellow Democrats to vote for Mr. Trump. I have known him since the early 1970s and have seen his deep concern for people, and how effective he has been while working on behalf of the average citizen.
Donald Trump is no racist. On the contrary, he offers the best hope for rebuilding our inner cities and creating better education and jobs for those trapped in poverty and lacking hope. When a hurricane devastated Puerto Rico in 1984, I asked Mr. Trump to provide a 727 airliner to bring critical supplies to the island. He did so and without publicity. I asked him to rebuild the Wollman Skating Rink in Central Park because the city couldn’t complete it in 10 years. Mr. Trump did it in under six months and under budget.
While he has made some controversial and provocative statements, I strongly believe he will bring needed change and vitality to our nation and shake up our political system, which is in a state of crisis.”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/party-loyalty-cant-make-me-vote-for-clinton-1474498244
That’s why he will be a one term Mayor.
Crime is at all-time lows. Seems we ought to keep doing what we’re doing.