"Stop and frisk," a controversial police tactic employed by Michael Bloomberg during his tenure as New York City mayor that allowed officers to detain pedestrians they believe are about to commit a crime, is one factor that was always going to threaten the politician's presidential campaign. But according to Bloomberg in a recent interview with "CBS This Morning" host Gayle King, it was a surprise to him.
"Well nobody asked me about it until I started running for president," according to the mayor.
Former NYC Mayor @MikeBloomberg tells @GayleKing "nobody asked" him about stop & frisk until he started running for president.
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) December 6, 2019
"I'm sorry. I apologize. Let's go fight the NRA and find other ways to stop the murders and incarceration. Those are things that I'm committed to do." pic.twitter.com/ww1pJPraBt
That's not how others remember it. One by one, journalists reminded Bloomberg of all the times they confronted him on the issue, and he ignored them.
.@alexburnsNYT asked him a year ago about stop and frisk and he was unapologetic. https://t.co/Lfvxc3tVCU https://t.co/P7toac65y3 pic.twitter.com/eeKfst6BKP
— Alex Thompson (@AlxThomp) December 6, 2019
Bloomberg claims no one asked him about Stop and Frisk till he started running for president. This is not true. https://t.co/6cCMlUsKh5
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) December 6, 2019
Others noted that the controversial program even ended up in court. More than once. In 2013, a judge ruled that the policy violated the Fourteenth Amendment.
Bloomberg urged voters to forget about "stop-and-frisk" and help him get to work on other things, like "fighting the NRA." But it's not that simple. The stop-and-frisk program, according to critics, put a major dent in the relationship between police and the African-American community. While proponents argued it helped to lower crime in the city, others note the racial disparity in which black individuals were stopped at a much higher rate than whites.
Bloomberg recently apologized for the program and called it a "mistake." He admits he and his office were perhaps a bit too "overzealous" at the time.
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