BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a black congregation on Sunday that his highly criticized 'stop and frisk' policies has saved lives in New York. The speech was delivered at the First Baptist Church in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
Mayor Bloomberg told the congregation, "We are not going to walk from a strategy that we know saves lives," as reported by the New York Times. However, he admitted that people being pulled over must be treated with dignity and assured the people that any mistreatment of those being stopped will not be tolerated.
"We owe to New Yorkers to ensure that stops are properly conducted and carried out in a respectful way," Bloomberg said, according to the New York Times.
Mayor Bloomberg's stop & frisk policy has been a point of great controversy particularly within the black and Hispanic community, who say that the majority of people being stopped and frisked are either black or Hispanic. And although, the policy itself might not be intended to be racist, its execution by the New State Department Police (NYPD) certainly portrays an element of racism.
The Bloomberg administration strategically scheduled the speech a week before a planned march to protest the policy. The speech was the first of its kind because, although the mayor had defended the policy many times before, this was the first time he delivered a whole speech dedicated directly and explicitly to defend it.
The Mayor addressed the issue of racial profiling telling those at the congregation that the NYPD was prohibited from doing so; however he said that the city could not "deny reality."
The Mayor's Speech, although in principle defensive, in tone- projected a sense of sympathy for the unintentional side-effects of the policy. "Congregants...seemed to appreciate Mr. Bloomberg's attempt to address the criticism," according to the New York Times, even though they opposed his policies.
