At a time when racial profiling is at the forefront of the national conversation, and unarmed, innocent black people are being shot and murdered by officers on camera at alarming rates, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has expressed his support for the implementation of a nationwide stop-and-frisk policy, similar to the one implemented by Republican former mayor of New York Rudolph Giuliani.
In a town hall presented by Fox News at a black church in Cleveland, Ohio, Trump advocated for the policy which would allow officers to stop and question suspicious pedestrians, then frisk them for weapons and other contraband. When asked how he would go about stopping violence in black communities and “black-on-black” crime, Trump responded, “I would do stop-and-frisk. I think you have to. We did it in New York, it worked incredibly well and you have to be proactive and, you know, you really help people sort of change their mind automatically.”
The stop-and-frisk policy in New York, which was proven to disproportionately target black and Latino citizens for harassment, was the target of much controversy after manipulation of data and internal corruption in relation to the policy was exposed by an NYPD officer.
Trump has since backpedaled somewhat on the comments, saying that he meant to suggest this policy for just Chicago, not nationwide.
His comments come in the wake of the fatal police shooting of Keith Scott in Charlotte and the State of Emergency declared by North Carolina’s governor, Pat McCrory to address social unrest.
