Tipsheet

Journalists Call Bloomberg a Liar After He Claims No One Asked Him About 'Stop and Frisk'

Cortney O'Brien
Cortney O'Brien  |  December 06, 2019 11:50 AM

"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.

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.

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.

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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.