Trump Claims During Debate Stop And Frisk Worked 'Very Well'

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump clashed over ways to fight crime in the United States during Monday night's presidential debate.

CBS2's Alice Gainer reported that during the topic of race relations, Trump spoke of the gun violence in Chicago and offered the solution of bring back stop and frisk, which the NYPD previously used.

COMPLETE CAMPAIGN 2016 COVERAGE

"Now, whether or not in a place like Chicago, you do stop and frisk, which worked very well," Trump said. "Mayor Giuliani is here. It worked very well in New York. It brought the crime rate way down."

Moderator Lester Holt responded that stop and frisk was ruled unconstitutional. In August 2013, U.S. District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin referred to it as "indirect racial profiling," which led to officers regularly stopping mostly blacks and Hispanics.

"No, you're wrong. It went before a judge, who was a very against police judge. It was taken away from her and our new mayor refused to go ahead with the case. It would've won on appeal," Trump said during the debate.

The NYPD sent out a fact check Tuesday evening saying that stop and frisk is not unconstitutional.

"During the presidential debate that took place last night, the NYPD was a topic of debate. Not all the information was accurate. Here's the truth: Stop, Question and Frisk is NOT unconstitutional. A federal judge in New York did order remedies to ensure the NYPD applies the lawful policing tool constitutionally," the NYPD said.

The administration of then Mayor Michael Bloomberg appealed and the court granted a stay of her ruling as it was sent back to be tried under a new judge.

However, after taking office, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he would not pursue the case.

"It really drove a wedge between police and communities," said Darius Charney, a senior attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights.

The organization filed a lawsuit against the NYPD for stop and frisk.

"There are things the police department has done right and has done in a way that has helped fight crime, but stop and frisk is not one of those things, so we really don't want to see a return to the stop and frisk era," said Charney.

Trump stated at the debate that stop and frisk had a tremendous impact, but a 2013 report from the New York Attorney General's Office found that only 3 percent of arrests under stop and frisk actually led to a conviction.

Trump also argued that crime was up in New York, but NYPD spokesperson J. Peter Donald refuted that claim.

"Stop question & frisk has decreased nearly 97% in NYC since '11. Crime, murder, & shootings have decreased significantly during same period," Donald tweeted.

After the stop and frisk ruling, the NYPD agreed to court-ordered reforms that are currently underway.

According to the New York Civil Liberties Union in 2012, using NYPD data, the NYPD found 715 guns during the more than 532,000 stops – so guns were found 0.1 percent of the time.

In:
• Peter Haskell
• New York City Police Department
• Donald Trump