O'Reilly to Murdered Chicago Teen's Dad: 'Stop-and-Frisk Is Intrusive, But It Saves Lives'

[Dave]

I'll presume most of you are familiar with NYC's Police Dept. 'Stop and Frisk' policy that has been used for several years... for those of you that are not familiar, its basically this, police officers can stop and frisk pretty much anyone. For the most part, I agree with O'Reilly on 'Stop and Frisk' and the statistics seem to back up the value of the program.... murders have drastically been reduced.

On the program tonight (Tues 8/20), Bill talked to the father of a Chicago teenager that was killed in a shootout early in the year. The father unfortunately still believes that more gun control is what is needed and is what could of saved his daughter... Chicago has some of the toughest gun laws in the country yet has one of the highest murder rates. Its unfortunate when people can be so blind to something that is so obvious. Criminals in Chicago are just not that afraid of being arrested. One of these days maybe people like the father here will figure out that something does need to change but its not more laws..... its enforcing the existing laws and allowing those that wish to carry or even own a gun the ability to do that.

Tonight on The O’Reilly Factor, Bill O’Reilly debated New York’s controversial ‘stop-and-frisk’ policy. Last week, a federal judge ruled that it violates people’s civil rights. O’Reilly argued in his Talking Points Memo that while the policy is intrusive, it has helped save the lives of hundreds of New Yorkers.

Under the policy, the police are allowed to search people who look suspicious. Statistics have shown that since stop-and-frisk began, murder in New York City has decreased dramatically. In a city of eight million people, 419 were killed last year.

In Chicago last weekend, six people were shot dead and 28 others injured, including a seven-year-old boy. “The Windy City has turned into Afghanistan,” O’Reilly commented. “So far this year, 58 children and teens have been murdered.”

One of those Chicago teens was 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton who was shot and killed this past January. Her father, Nathaniel Pendleton, defended the judge’s ruling against stop-and-frisk on tonight’s Factor. He called it “totally unfair because this isn’t just happening in black neighborhoods or Hispanic neighborhoods. It’s happening everywhere.”

Pendleton cited the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut as an example. He believes tougher gun laws would deter criminals. He argued that people carrying illegal guns should face more jail time.

O’Reilly said the solution to Chicago’s violence is by flooding street corners with police. He charged, “If the city did that you’d hear the howls of indignation from the racial hustlers who would rather see kids die than admit there is an acute social and criminal problem in many poor precincts.”

The outrage over stop-and-frisk stems from the fact that most of the people frisked are minorities. Trayvon Martin’s mother, the teen shot dead in Florida last February, said recently that police shouldn’t have the authority to stop people because of the color of their skin.

New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said over the weekend that the “losers” if this case is allowed to stand are people in minority communities. “Ninety-seven percent of the shooting victims in New York City last year were people of color – black or Latino,” Kelly said.  

O’Reilly also noted that 89 percent of the accused killers in NYC are minorities, which is why they are under more scrutiny. Not without understanding for the frustration, O’Reilly said, “I mean, I can’t stand the airport security deal, so if I was being patted down on my way to the deli, it would not make me happy. And that happens to people of color all the time in this city.”

However, he maintained that stop-and-frisk is based on factual data and public safety. “There is no pure solution to the problem, but the police should record why they stop an individual. That is the fair and constitutional thing to do.”

Read more: http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/08/20/bill-oreilly-stop-and-frisk-in...

[Dave]

Click the link to watch the interview with the father.

[XLFD]

I think there should be a reasonable compromise.  Police can stop and frisk suspicious characters, but they should have to also wear video cameras that record their activities, and have that available freely to the public on request.  This may root out the bad cops that use S&F as harassment or intimidation, and cut down on the arbitrary pat-downs that have risen by over 600% since its year of inception.

[Dave]

That would be reasonable as far as I'm concerned. It's like I can understand why some minorities are not happy about the practice but I guess what they don't understand is that a lot of crime seems to happen in neighborhoods that tend to have more minorities in them, so naturally more minorities are going to be the ones that are going to see most of these stop and frisk. One thing I'd like to know is how many of the cops are minorities themselves... I'd have a hard time believing that its just white cops doing all these stops.

[Willy]

i completely disagree with the "stop and frisk" law. The only time someone should be "stopped and frisked" is if there is evidence that a crime is about to be committed or if a crime is being committed or if they have apprehended a suspect in a crime that has been committed. Anything else is against the Constitution.

[XLFD]

Any type of 'proactive' police work that involves the infringement of a well-established right in order to prevent a 'possible' crime should include clear justification of why it's being done.  And police officers must be well-versed in understanding that they have that responsibility to the public at large.