Trump Defends Stop-and-Frisk Programs at Hannity Town Hall: They ‘Worked Great’

President Donald Trump on Thursday defended “stop-and-frisk” policies that involve police detaining and searching people they believe are suspicious, saying in an interview it “worked great” in Chicago and when former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani instituted the policy in his city.

“I know it’s very controversial to say — stop and frisk. OK? Stop and frisk. You take guns away,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “Chicago’s the greatest example I’ve ever seen of that. Rudy Giuliani was a great mayor. He did it in New York. He started it. And it worked great.”

He faulted Michael Bloomberg — who succeeded Giuliani as New York mayor, serving from 2002-2013 — for going “crazy” with the program.

“Bloomberg blew it because he went crazy with it and ultimately took away a lot of rights, and a lot of it wasn’t a good job he did,” Trump said. “But Rudy Giuliani started stop and frisk, and he did a great — it was a great thing he did for New York.”

Approximately 5 million New Yorkers were stopped by police under the program during Bloomberg’s tenure. A federal judge in 2013 ruled New York’s program unconstitutional, and Bloomberg said during his short-lived run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination that he regretted it. “I’ve met with black leaders to try to get an understanding of how I can better position myself and what I should have done and what I should do next time,” Bloomberg said at a Democratic forum in February.

At the time the program was administered, New Yorkers were divided in their support of it along racial lines. A 2012 Quinnipiac University survey found 45 percent of voters approved of it — including 57 percent of white voters, 53 percent of Hispanic voters, and just 25 percent of black voters — compared to 50 percent who disapproved. The issue has become more contentious in the wake of national unrest over George Floyd’s May 25 death.

Trump, a native New York resident, has supported the program for many years. “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,” he said in 2016.

Watch above via Fox News.