The Republican presidential nominee was asked about violence in the black community by an audience member, to which Trump suggested the controversial policy that was first used in New York City.
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Tonight Fox News will be airing a town hall meeting put on by Donald Trump in Cleveland, where he is purportedly attempting to appeal to African-American voters, who are now swinging toward Hillary Clinton in massive poll numbers. He said he thinks police unfairly discriminate against black citizens and he is against stop-and-frisk. “We did it in NY, it worked incredibly well and you have to be proactive and, you know, you really help people sort of change their mind”.
The NYPD’s stop and frisk program, which allows law enforcement officers to stop people on the street and pat them down for drugs or weapons without a warrant, has been the subject of widespread protests and multiple lawsuits challenging its constitutionality.
Tucker, who is white and supports Trump, said she sensed discomfort in the room when the candidate gave his answer.
Trump has portrayed himself as the “law-and-order candidate”.
Trump said that stop-and-frisk was “so incredible” in New York City. But a 2014 New York Civil Liberties Union report found that as the number of stops increased dramatically from 2002 to 2011 during Michael Bloomberg’s tenure as mayor, the number of guns recovered, shooting victims and murders only “changed modestly”. In New York, ending the practice was a key plank of Democrat Bill de Blasio’s successful 2013 run for mayor.
“Stop-and-frisk” is not a broadly popular approach among African Americans, so Trump’s comments could set back his attempt to win over black voters.
Anger over police tactics has escalated since the stop-and-frisk controversies, as the deaths of African-Americans, many of them unarmed, at the hands of police have sparked unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, Baltimore and other cities.
Wednesday’s town hall was part of Trump’s ongoing efforts to court black voters. “We did it in NY, it worked incredibly well and you have to be proactive and, you know, you really help people sort of change their mind automatically”, Trump said.
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“I felt like there was a pause”, Tucker said, according to Reuters.
