February 2015In an audio clip from his speech on the Aspen Institute, which circulated widely this month, Mr. Bloomberg mentioned:“It’s controversi
February 2015
In an audio clip from his speech on the Aspen Institute, which circulated widely this month, Mr. Bloomberg mentioned:
“It’s controversial, however the very first thing — 95 % of your murders and murderers and homicide victims match one M.O. You may simply take the outline, Xerox it and go it out to all of the cops. They’re male minorities, 15 to 25. That’s true in New York, it’s true in just about each metropolis in America, and that’s the place the actual crime is.
You’ve acquired to get the weapons out of the arms of the folks which are getting killed. … Youngsters assume they’re going to get killed anyway as a result of all their buddies are getting killed, so they only don’t have any long-term focus or something. It’s a joke to have a gun, it’s a joke to drag the set off.”
He mentioned different cities had increased homicide charges than New York as a result of “they haven’t gone after scaring the children to get weapons out of them. Lots of people don’t like the truth that that’s what you do, however that’s what stops this.”
“Put these cops the place the crime is, which suggests in minority neighborhoods. An unintended consequence is folks say, ‘Oh my God, you’re arresting youngsters for marijuana, they’re all minorities.’ Sure, that’s true. Why? As a result of we put all of the cops within the minority neighborhoods. Sure, that’s true. Why can we do it? As a result of that’s the place all of the crime is.
The very first thing you are able to do for folks is to cease them getting killed. We did a calculation on how many individuals who would have been lifeless if we hadn’t introduced down the homicide charge and acquired the weapons off the streets, and the way in which you get the weapons out of the children’ arms is to throw them in opposition to the wall and frisk them. As a result of then they are saying, ‘I don’t need to get caught,’ so that they don’t carry the gun. They nonetheless have a gun, however they depart it at residence.”
September 2018
After a protracted stretch wherein he didn’t prominently touch upon stop-and-frisk, Mr. Bloomberg confirmed in an interview with The New York Occasions (elements of which were published at the time) that he nonetheless believed it had been the proper coverage throughout his tenure. He did permit, although, that circumstances could be completely different now.
“We used it at a time limit the place there have been an terrible lot of individuals killing one another, and it was a method that we used which was supported by lots of people who mentioned, ‘Look, we simply acquired to cease this carnage it doesn’t matter what.’ And primarily based on that, we’ve developed into utilizing different methods. However the homicide charge got here down dramatically, and what I take a look at is the variety of folks whose lives had been saved by getting youngsters to not carry weapons as a result of they had been afraid to be stopped.
The New York Metropolis Police Division may be very nicely managed and has stayed inside the regulation. And I can’t inform you each cop did all the pieces completely, however I feel it was a method that was acceptable on the time. My job was to do all the pieces I may to cease homicide.”
When pressed on the truth that the crime charge saved falling after Invoice de Blasio turned mayor and deserted stop-and-frisk, Mr. Bloomberg acknowledged the pattern however mentioned:
“Take into accout, all of these things is constructed on what was completed earlier than. So you may’t simply say the methods you’d have after youngsters are afraid to hold weapons are completely different than the methods you’d use in the event that they weren’t afraid to hold weapons.”
January 2019
Throughout a question-and-answer session at the US Naval Academy, a midshipman requested Mr. Bloomberg what he would say to the black and Latino communities affected by stop-and-frisk. Mr. Bloomberg said the police “definitely didn’t choose anyone by race” and added:
“We targeted on protecting youngsters from going by way of the correctional system — youngsters who walked round trying like they may have a gun, take away the gun from their pockets and cease it. … The results of that was, through the years, the homicide charge in New York Metropolis went from 650 a yr to 300 a yr once I left. … It was a program which we had, after which when the variety of weapons we had been confiscating began to fall and folks left their weapons at residence, we tailed that off.”
October 2019
Only a month earlier than he renounced stop-and-frisk, Mr. Bloomberg defended it in a Washington Post interview and argued that it had truly helped minority communities.
“I got here right into a scenario the place an terrible lot of individuals had been killing an terrible lot of different folks, and it was all just about one group. And I simply mentioned, we’re going to do something we will to cease the carnage. The very first thing was cease the murders. And we introduced down the incarceration charge in jails by a 3rd, largely minority youngsters. We introduced down the homicide charge by 50 %, from 600 to 300 murders, and you understand who would have been killed.”