Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was in full throttle, foaming-at-the-mouth, unhinged mode in the first head to head debate with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. It was held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, on Long Island, New York.
One of the issues that sent Trump over the deep end was the issue of stop-and-frisk. Trump argues it’s a good thing to bring back the practice in large cities like New York and Chicago.
New York first passed the so-called stop and frisk law in 1964. It allows police officers to:
- Make an arrest without a warrant;
- Stop a person in a public place;
- Demand the person’s name, address, and an explanation of his behavior, and
- Can conduct the frisk if they suspect that the person is committing, has committed or is about to commit a felony or misdemeanor.
The practice allowed New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers to stop and question pedestrians. They could then frisk them for weapons or other contraband if the officers had reason to suspect they may be carrying.
Statistics show that African-American and Latino men were stopped in significantly higher numbers.
It’s a controversial technique that was heavily implemented by New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his successor Mayor Bloomberg. There were positive gains made with the program, but other techniques were used in conjunction to achieve lower crime rates in the city.
The current New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, warned Donald Trump against embracing the stop-and-frisk tactic. He believes it can only worsen relations between police and the community.
Trump has praised the anti-crime tactic and says it “massively changed” the crime statistics in New York City. Trump also said that the crime-ridden city of Chicago needed to adopt the tactic.
The practice of stop-and-frisk ended in 2013 as it was ruled unconstitutional.
Both the Bloomberg and de Blasio Administrations tried to appeal the law. Both mayors dropped their appeals however, and adapted their tactics which have proven to be more successful.,
The new tactic emphasizes the pursuit of crimes no matter how small. It has in fact, proven to be very successful in bringing down crime rates. The new tactics include the addition of more police officers and concentrating on building bonds within communities.
Featured image By Kaz Vorpel via Flickr/CC-By-SA-2.0
