Christie: I’d bring back stop and frisk, stop blaming cops

For the record, Chris Christie isn't running for mayor of New York.

But if he was governor of New York, and if he was responsible for putting a stop to crime, Christie says he knows exactly what he'd do:

"'Stop and frisk' would be back.in about five minutes, yes it would," Christie said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Tuesday. "'Stop and frisk' would be back in about five minutes and we would empower the police, not undercut them. And listen, if police officers step over the line, then they deserve to be taken care of and prosecuted. But this guy, this mayor, presumes guilt on the part of the police officers before anything happens."

"By this guy, this mayor," Christie meant Bill de Blasio, who'd been on the program himself the same day to say New York has had the safest summer in 20 years. The mayor had said crime overall is down about 5 percent.

"I'm just stunned, as are most people who live in this area, is that this has been the safest summer in New York," Christie said. The governor said he didn't give credit to the statist

He blamed crime in New York on "the liberal policies in this city that have led to the lawlessness that's been encouraged by the president of the United States.

"I'm telling you, people in this country are getting more and more fed up. You're hearing more and more about this," Christie said.

Christie, asked by the show's hosts about problems with stop-and-frisk, said they weren't worth eliminating the policy.

"What leadership is about — there are some problems with a particular policy, fix them. don't throw the baby out with the bathwater," Christie said.