Liberal policies are fostering a rise in crime in big cities run by Democrats, former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik says, and mayors in those towns should follow the lead of former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to get the rate back down.
"Nobody's coming to work, visit or go to school in a place where they don't feel safe," Kerik said Tuesday on Fox Business Network's
"Lou Dobbs Tonight."
"The No. 1 issue in New York City was crime," Kerik said. "For every percentage point we reduce crime, I can show you increases in economic development, real estate value, tourism, so forth and so on. The city rose in every element as crime dropped."
Current New York Mayor Bill de Blasio ended stop-and-frisk policies enacted by Giuliani and continued by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Crime has risen 13 percent in the past year in the city, much as it has in other major cities.
Baltimore has seen a 40 percent rise in murder and last month hit a 40-year record 43 homicides since the tensions between police, public and city leadership following the death of Freddie Gray during an arrest in April.
New York saw an 83 percent drop in homicides following the institution of stop-and-frisk, Kerik said. De Blasio dropped the policy because he said it unfairly targeted black residents.
Kerik admitted that the system could be abused, but suggested better oversight or tweaks were better solutions than dropping the program altogether.
"Do something with stop-and-frisk so that the cops have the tools they need to do their jobs," he said.
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