Donald Trump said Thursday that the NYPD’s “stop and frisk” policing techniques worked in New York City and that Chicago should implement them.
“Stop and frisk worked. We had tremendous shootings, numbers of shootings,” Mr. Trump said on “Fox and Friends.” “Now, Chicago is really out of control.”
The GOP presidential nominee said there have been 3,000 shootings so far this year in Chicago.
“Obviously, you can’t let the system go the way it’s going,” Mr. Trump said. “But I suggested stop and frisk, and some people think that’s a great idea and some people probably don’t like it.”
“But when you have 3,000 people shot and so many people dying, I mean it’s worse than some of the places we’re hearing about like Afghanistan, you know — the war-torn nations. I mean, it’s more dangerous,” he said.
“I think Chicago needs stop and frisk … people can criticize me for that or people can say whatever they want,” he said. “But you have to do something. It can’t continue the way it’s going.”
A federal judge ruled in 2013 that the practice in New York was unconstitutional, saying there was evidence officers were conducting the stops in a racially discriminatory manner.
But Mr. Trump said it’s local law enforcement that knows which people should not have guns.
“They’re proactive, and if they see a person possibly with a gun or they think may have a gun, they will see the person and they’ll look and they’ll take the gun away,” Mr. Trump said. “They’ll stop, they’ll frisk, and they’ll take the gun away. And they won’t have anything to shoot with.”
“How it’s not being used in Chicago is, to be honest with you, it’s quite unbelievable,” he said. “The police, the local police — they know who has a gun who shouldn’t be having the gun. They understand that.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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