Fox News host Geraldo Rivera asserted on Friday that New York City's "Stop-and-Frisk" policy "protected" black and Latino residents more than other groups even though they make up about 90 percent of the people targeted by the policy.
During an appearance of Fox & Friends, Rivera welcomed the news that Judge Shira Scheindlin was removed from the case against "Stop-and-Frisk" and an order that required a federal overseer be put in place to monitor changes and prevent future discrimination was blocked.
"New York is the safest big city on Earth," he explained. "Chicago has three and half times the homicide rate of New York. And Chicago has a very similar demographic."
"And whose lives are being saved by Stop-and-Frisk? It is precisely the people -- the black and Latino young person most susceptible to being killed by violence. These are the people being protected by Stop-and-Frisk."
He added: "Ray Kelly was right, Mayor Bloomberg was right. Twenty years of Republican administrations in New York has done a good thing."
The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), however, disputes that Stop-and-Frisk was necessary to bring down the crime rate in the city.
"No research has ever proven the effectiveness of New York City’s stop-and-frisk regime, and the small number of arrests, summonses, and guns recovered demonstrates that the practice is ineffective," according to the NYCLU. "Crime data also do not support the claim that New York City is safer because of the practice. While violent crimes fell 29 percent in New York City from 2001 to 2010, other large cities experienced larger violent crime declines without relying on stop and frisk abuses."
