NYC Mayor Uses Illegal Gun Haul to Tout ‘Stop and Frisk’
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Spencer Platt/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg used a press conference Monday about a huge haul of illegal firearms to also tout the police department’s controversial “stop-and-frisk” policy, which was declared unconstitutional by a federal judge last week.
In her ruling, Judge Shira Sheindlin said the policy unfairly targeted blacks and Hispanics. Sheindlin ruled that the policy could continue, but only under strong new restrictions.
However, while announcing the seizure of 254 illegal guns, Bloomberg referred to a wiretap conversation from the investigation showing that one of the gun traffickers’ biggest concerns was the city’s controversial “stop-and-frisk” policy.
The mayor contends the tactic, which allows cops to search anyone regardless of whether they believe a crime has been committed, is “an important part of [the New York Police Department’s] record of success.”
As it turned out, the gun trafficker, who fretted about “stop and frisk,” and 18 others have been indicted for transporting the firearms from the South, where Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said there are weaker gun laws, and then selling them in New York City to an undercover officer. The guns seized are valued at more than $160,000.
Bloomberg and Kelly refuted the judge’s ruling once again during the press conference, applauding the police officers involved in the largest gun seizure in the city’s history.
The mayor added, “There is no doubt that this seizure has saved lives.”
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