Mike Bloomberg Slammed Over Unearthed Audio of Himself Defending Stop and Frisk: ‘This is Disgusting’

Ken MeyerFeb 11th, 2020, 8:03 am
 

Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Images

Mike Bloomberg is facing political blowback after audio emerged of himself giving a full-throated defense of his stop and frisk policy as former New York City mayor.

Progressive podcast host Benjamin Dixon uncovered audio of a speech Bloomberg gave to the Aspen Institute five years ago, which he blocked from public release at the time. In the address, Bloomberg spoke unapologetically in favor of stop and frisk while saying that cities need to “put a lot of cops in the streets,” particularly in “minority neighborhoods.”

“Ninety-five percent of murders — murderers and murder victims fit one M.O. You can just take a description, Xerox it, and pass it out to all the cops. They are male, minorities, 16-25. That’s true in New York, that’s true in virtually every city…And that’s where the real crime is.”

Bloomberg also used his speech to dismiss criticism from those who noted that stop and frisk caused a disproportionate amount of arrests for minorities over low-level offenses like marijuana possession.

“Yes, that’s true. Why? Because we put all the cops in minority neighborhoods,” said Bloomberg. “Why do we do it? Because that’s where all the crime is. And the way you get the guns out of the kids’ hands is to throw them up against the wall and frisk them.”

Bloomberg has tried to apologize for supporting stop and frisk ever since he entered the 2020 Democratic primary, but the issue remains a source of controversy weighing down his candidacy. As such, political observers have taken notice of the audio, and they see it as a shocking new look into how Bloomberg really thinks about criminal justice.

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