A 2015 Speech by Mike Bloomberg Exposes Controversial Comments About Stop-And-Frisk Policy

Despite spending more than $300 million on TV, radio, and digital ads, Michael Bloomberg is a relatively unknown commodity outside New York City. A newly surfaced audio recording of a speech Bloomberg delivered in 2015 reveals shocking comments he made about minorities and the intention of his stop-and-frisk policy.

Read what Bloomberg said:

“95% of your murderers — murderers and murder victims —  fit one M.O. You can just take the description, Xerox it and pass it out to all the cops. They are male minorities, sixteen to twenty-five. That’s true in New York, that’s true in virtually every city. … And that’s where the real crime is….

“One of the unintended consequences is people say, ‘Oh my God, you are arresting kids for marijuana that are all minorities.’ Yes, that’s true. Why? Because we put all the cops in minority neighborhoods. Yes, that’s true. Why do we do it? Because that’s where all the crime is.”

As Mayor, Bloomberg was a staunch defender of the stop-and-frisk policy, including being vehemently opposed to measures that would bring accountability to the system, including a measure to combat racial profiling.

• National Journal: “Bloomberg is a staunch defender of the controversial stop-and-frisk policing strategy, which lets officers make warrantless stops of anyone deemed suspicious.” (3/27/13)
• The Wall Street Journal: “On Thursday, the City Council voted to appoint an inspector general to monitor the NYPD and to allow people to file claims of racial profiling against the police in state court. Mr. Bloomberg plans to veto both measures, and he has pledged to wage a vigorous battle to prevent the council from overriding his veto.” (6/30/13)

The policy was criticized for being a form of racial profiling with a particular bias towards targeting minorities. Soon after Bloomberg’s crusade against the City Council accountability measures in 2013, a U.S. District Court Judge found policy “unlawfully targeted black and latino men, and ruled the policy amounted to “indirect racial profiling.”

• Bloomberg: “Scheindlin issued her stop-and-frisk ruling after overseeing a nine-week trial that ended May 20. The judge found that police unlawfully targeted black and Latino men. She appointed an independent monitor and a panel of outside academic advisers to oversee police reforms.” (10/30/13)
• New Yorker: “Judge Shira A. Scheindlin ruled that the stop-and-frisk policy amounts to ‘indirect racial profiling’ and violates the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. She ordered several remedies, including a federal monitor to oversee reforms and community meetings to gather comments from the public. At a press conference, an angry Bloomberg said that the judge had denied the city ‘a fair trial,’ and promised to appeal.” (8/19/13)