Peter King

Congressman Peter King held a rally this morning where he blasted press reports critical of the NYPD's efforts to monitor the Muslim community as "left wing rumormongering" and The Politicker asked him if he thought coverage of the controversial stop and frisk policy was similarly biased.

"Absolutely," Mr. King said. "The stop and frisk policy of the NYPD has reduced murders by 70 to 80 percent over the last twenty years."

The NYPD stopped and interrogated a record number of people last year, about 87 percent of whom were black or Latino. The policy has come under intense criticism of late from politicians and others who argue it is ineffective and racially discriminatory.

Congressman King said rather than criticizing stop and frisk, minorities should be thankful for it.

"The fact is that there are thousands of young people in minority communities who are alive today because of the stop and frisk policy and they should be the ones thanking, and many of them are thanking, the NYPD for that policy, for taking guns away from murderers on our streets," he said.