Donald Trump said that he favours using "stop-and-frisk" tactics to curb violence in black communities, embracing a controversial policy in which police officers are empowered to stop, question and search individuals they suspect have committed crimes or are preparing to do so.
In an interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News that was recorded today, Trump made the remark in response to a question from a member of the audience.
"Well, one of the things I'd do, Ricardo, is I would do stop-and-frisk," Trump said. "I think you have to. 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."
Critics have argued that the policy unfairly targets minorities. A federal judge ruled in 2013 that New York City's law, as it was operating, was unconstitutional and a "form of racial profiling".
Shortly after taking office in 2014, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, an outspoken critic of the practice, announced he was ending a legal battle over "stop-and-frisk," leading to the appointment of a court-appointed monitor to oversee the NYPD's reform of the policy.
