Trump proposes expanding use of stop-and-frisk

Donald Trump will propose the expansion of the controversial stop-and-frisk policing program in a town hall aimed at African-American voters Wednesday. 

{mosads}In the event that will air Wednesday night on Fox News’s “Hannity,” Trump was asked by an audience member how he would address violence in black communities, according to a transcript. 

“Well one of the things I’d do, Ricardo, is I would do stop-and-frisk. I think you have to,” Trump responded.

Trump said policies have to be “proactive” and that stop-and-frisk worked “incredibly well” in New York City. 

“Now, we had a very good mayor, but New York City was incredible, the way that worked, so I think that could be one step you could do,” Trump said.

Trump for years has been an outspoken advocate of the controversial policy, which allows police officers to stop and search people if they have a reasonable suspicion that the person committed a crime.

In 2013 a federal judge ruled that the program was unconstitutional, saying it was a “policy of indirect racial profiling” because it was disproportionately used to target minority communities.

Early on in the event, Trump credited former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s use of stop-and-frisk as the key driving force behind the city’s drop in crime. He also suggested that Chicago adopt the program.

“Now they stopped [stop-and-frisk] in New York,” Trump said. “Let’s see what happens. But Chicago, maybe more than ever, you’re going to need something, because what’s going on there is absolutely out of control.”

Asked about his remarks, Trump’s campaign said in a statement that he supports applying a stop-and-frisk policy that is “locally tailored” to Chicago.

“Concerned about the ongoing, tragic violence in Chicago, Mr. Trump, along with many other Americans, believes that ‘stop and frisk,’ used successfully in New York City during the administration of Mayor Giuliani, saved lives and reduced crime,” spokesman Jason Miller said. “Mr. Trump believes that a locally tailored version of ‘stop and frisk’ should be used in Chicago to help reduce the city’s skyrocketing violence and make our Chicago safe again.”

Trump said at the town hall that jobs will be his main focus in trying to fix the nation’s inner cities.

“The inner cities are, I mean, can you say never, but certainly one of the worst stages ever in the history of the inner city,” he said. “It’s so unsafe where you walk down the street and you get shot or your child gets shot. So we’re going to really fix the inner cities.”

– Updated at 9:25 p.m.