Fact Check: Michael Bloomberg Falsely Claims He Had Change of Heart on Stop-and-Frisk in Office

Claim: Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg falsely claimed that he had a change of heart about stop-and-frisk, reducing the practice in his third term as mayor.

Verdict: False. Bloomberg vigorously defended stop-and-frisk, both in court and in public speeches, including in an interview a month before he launched his 2020 campaign.

What Bloomberg said:

What happened, however, was it got out of control. And when we discovered, I discovered, that we were doing many, many, too many stop and frisks, we cut 95 percent of it out.

What Really happened:

Bloomberg was forced to end stop-and-frisk in 2013 after a court order to stop it was issued by Shira Scheindlin, a federal judge.