U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, in remarks at an African-American church on Wednesday, praised "stop-and-frisk" policing methods that have aroused protests and successful legal challenges, for singling out minorities.
The anti-crime tactic in which police stop, question and search pedestrians for weapons or contraband, gained traction in New York City under Mayor Rudy Giuliani, now a top Trump supporter.
But opposition to the practice led police departments in New York, as well as Chicago and Newark, New Jersey, to agree to cut back on its use, in some cases submitting to outside monitoring and improving police training.
"I would do stop-and-frisk. I think you have to," Trump said, according to excerpts of a Fox News "town hall" in Cleveland, after a listener asked what he would do to reduce crime in predominantly black communities across the nation, Reuters reports.