I'm not in favor of Rudy's getting the GOP nod, but I think he's had a bad rap on this particular issue.
One, his de minimis policing ideas work. What he did was to emphasize policing up minor violations in order to give police officers opportunities to make "police contacts" with individuals who had outstanding warrants and needed to be in jail -- and I'm not talking about traffic warrants and unpaid parking tickets. These people were thugs. That's why the defense bar and people like Al Sharpton started screaming "racist" at Giuliani -- because he was jugging people, many of whom were criminals of the minoritarian persuasion.
Two, the business about juicing the crime-report numbers wasn't Rudy's idea. That was a bunch of lieutenants and booking sergeants gaming the system in response to his management initiative. Separate problem, and one that needs to be addressed -- but it shouldn't be held against Giuliani.
First, it's coming down on homeless window-washers, then it's smoking in public, then it's using cell phones in cars and while walking, and then, down the road of a liberal dem OR a liberal RINO presidency...
we're no better than many euro Nanny/Police states where we can't exercise our 2nd Amendment rights or right to self defense, use bb guns or knives, have toy guns, etc.
It doesn't end with these types of big-government jack-booted-thugs.