City public housing tenants should all be fingerprinted, Mayor Bloomberg said Friday, sparking an uproar from Democratic mayoral hopefuls.
“What we really should have is fingerprinting to get in,” Bloomberg said during his weekly appearance on “The John Gambling Show” on WOR-AM as he spoke about ways to improve safety in public housing.
Within an hour, mayoral hopeful Bill Thompson likened the fingerprinting idea to Bloomberg’s stance on stop-and-frisk, and called it “disrespectful” and “disgraceful.”
“Just like stop-and-frisk, this is another direct act of treating minorities like criminals,” Thompson, a former city controller, said in a statement. “Mayor Bloomberg wants to make New Yorkers feel like prisoners in their own homes.”
The candidate, polling third among likely voters behind Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, said his plan for policing New York City Housing Authority buildings includes stepping up police patrols and installing more security cameras.
De Blasio called Bloomberg’s fingerprinting idea “outrageous.” He also demanded that the mayor apologize to NYCHA residents.
“The mayor’s comments that New Yorkers who enter public housing should be fingerprinted is outrageous and insulting, and shows just how out of touch this administration has become,” he said in a statement. “Mayor Bloomberg needs to apologize for these remarks.”
In his radio remarks, Bloomberg also defended the NYPD’s stop-and frisk policy and said most residents in public housing want a larger police presence. He slammed Manhattan Federal Judge Shira Scheindlin for her ruling earlier this week that stop-and-frisk is unconstitutional.
“What does she know about policing? Absolutely zero,” he said of the judge.
“Your safety and the safety of your kids is now in the hands of some woman who does not have the expertise to do it.”
