WASHINGTON • Michael Bloomberg is under fire for resurfaced comments in which the Democratic presidential candidate says the way to bring down murder rates is to “put a lot of cops” in minority neighborhoods because that’s where “all the crime is.”

The billionaire and former New York City mayor made the comments at a 2015 appearance at the Aspen Institute, as part of an overall defense of his support for the controversial “stop and frisk” policing tactic that has been found to disproportionately affect minorities.

Bloomberg launched his presidential bid late last year with an apology for his support for the policy. He’s taking an unconventional approach to the campaign, bypassing the traditional early states and gaining attention by flooding the airwaves with hundreds of millions of dollars in ads.

He’s spent recent days courting black voters whose support will be crucial to winning the Democratic nomination and will begin a campaign swing through the South on Wednesday.

Seeking to blunt political fallout from the comments, Bloomberg said Tuesday the remarks “do not reflect my commitment to criminal justice reform and racial equity.”

But the audio of his Aspen speech highlights his embrace of the policy just a few years ago and suggests he was aware of the disproportionate impact of stop and frisk on minorities.

Bloomberg says that “95%” of murders and murder victims are young male minorities and that “you can just take the description, Xerox it and pass it out to all the cops.”

To combat crime, he says, “put a lot of cops where the crime is, which means in minority neighborhoods.”

In the audio, he acknowledges that focusing police forces in minority neighborhoods means minorities are disproportionately arrested for marijuana possession but dismisses that as a necessary consequence. “Why do we do it? Because that’s where all the crime is,” Bloomberg said.

And to “get the guns out of the kids’ hands,” Bloomberg says, police must “throw ‘em against the wall and frisk ’em.”

“And they say, ‘Oh, I don’t want that. I don’t wanna get caught.’ So they don’t bring the gun,” he says.

According to a report in the Aspen Times that year, Bloomberg blocked the release of video of the Aspen Institute appearance. But the Aspen Times reporter uploaded what appears to be the full audio online, and it drew renewed attention Monday after podcaster Benjamin Dixon circulated it on Twitter.

In his Tuesday statement, Bloomberg notes that he “inherited the practice of stop and frisk” from Rudy Giuliani’s administration and noted that by the time he left office at the end of 2013, he had significantly reduced its use. He said, “I should have done it faster and sooner.”

But stop and frisk expanded dramatically on Bloomberg’s watch, reaching a peak in 2011 when over 685,000 people were stopped, according to data from the American Civil Liberties Union. While its use declined significantly after that, Bloomberg stood by the program even in the face of widespread criticism and legal challenges.

Bloomberg has since distanced himself from the policy since launching his presidential campaign as part of a broader strategy aimed at appealing to minority voters.

He’s also acknowledged his white privilege and released policies focused on issues central to some African American communities, like black homeownership and maternal mortality rates.

But the comments gave Bloomberg’s political rivals an opportunity to pounce.

Former Vice President Joe Biden is also staking his campaign on a strong showing in South Carolina. His top adviser, Symone Sanders, called the comments “sad and despicable.”

And President Donald Trump, who has supported stop-and-frisk policies, sent out a tweet with a clip of the audio, declaring, “Bloomberg’s a racist.”

Trump later deleted the tweet, but his campaign seized on its argument. “It also shows that his apology for ‘stop and frisk’ was fake and was only designed to win him votes,” said Trump campaign communications director, Tim Murtaugh.

The attacks on Bloomberg reflect a growing concern about the billionaire’s candidacy.

Democratic presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg talks to supporters this month in Detroit. Bloomberg is under fire for comments that resurfaced from 2015 about putting “a lot of cops” in minority neighborhoods because that’s where “all the crime is.”

the associated press