Trump would expand controversial ‘stop-and-frisk’ tactic to reduce crime in black communities

Donald Trump detailed his plan to dramatically reduce black-on-black crime in America on Wednesday, saying he would seek to expand a controversial stop-and-frisk program across the nation as US president. 

During a town hall held by Fox News’s Sean Hannity on Wednesday afternoon in Cleveland, Ohio, the Republican candidate told an audience member that he “would do stop-and-frisk” in black communities faced with high levels of violence.

“We did it in New York, it worked incredibly well,” he said in a partial transcript released by Fox. The interview is scheduled to air tonight. “I see what’s going on here, I see what’s going on in Chicago, I think stop-and-frisk. In New York City, it was so incredible, the way it worked. Now, we had a very good mayor, but New York City was incredible, the way that worked, so I think that could be one step you could do.” 

The tactic had been used for years, and its implementation escalated to unprecedented levels during the three-term administration of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He and former Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly credited it for the city experiencing 12 consecutive years of decreasing crime.

Even as they made this assertion, as protests from minority community leaders grew more intense, they cut the practice by about 72 per cent from its peak in 2011 to 2013 (The former mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP).