The uptick in shootings in New York City following a decline in the use of stop-and-frisk policies is "dangerous" if it indicates a long-term trend, said former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
With shootings in New York City on the rise, the New York Police Department is analyzing the effect stop-and-frisk policies have on crime. There has been a 43 percent increase in shootings, with 129 people shot in May, according to
CompStat figures,
CBS New York reported.
"If you ask me what do I think the long-term trend is, I think it's a dangerous one," Giuliani told "Fox & Friends" on Tuesday.
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Giuliani said he learned from New York's Police Commissioner Bill Bratton that "when shootings increase, very shortly thereafter murders increase." He said the reason was that an increase in shootings meant there were "more guns on the street than there were before."
"If shootings increase, there are more guns are out there, people are using them more, those are going to result in murders, if you don't get on top of it quickly enough," he said.
Giuliani expressed confidence that Bratton, who served as police commissioner during part of the period in the '90s when he was mayor, would be able to address the problem and reverse the trend.
Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio "is very lucky to have an enormously talented police commissioner, Bill Bratton, who is on top of this. And if there's any chance to stop it, he'll stop it," he said.
The stop-and-frisk policy came under fire from people who felt the practice unfairly targeted certain groups. Giuliani said the policy, which began when he was mayor, was constitutional if "done correctly."
"If you have reasonable suspicion that the person is committing a crime, you can stop them. You can ask them questions. It's stop, question, and frisk, is really the right way to describe it," he said.
The issue would serve as a "warning sign" and a "test" for de Blasio, Giuliani said, to determine if he was an "ideologue" or a "pragmatist."
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