From the New York Post:

NYPD union wants cops out of ‘social distancing enforcement’

The city’s largest police union is demanding cops get “out of the social distancing enforcement business,” while slamming New York pols for “releasing criminals,” “discouraging proactive policing,” and leaving subways “in chaos.”

“This situation is untenable: the NYPD needs to get cops out of the social distancing enforcement business altogether,” a statement from Police Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch said.

“The cowards who run this city have given us nothing but vague guidelines and mixed messages, leaving the cops on the street corners to fend for ourselves,” Lynch said. “Nobody has a right to interfere with a police action. But now that the inevitable backlash has arrived, they are once again throwing us under the bus.”

This is in reference to the story I brought to you on Monday, about the NYPD officer who punched a citizen while intervening on social distancing.  He was put on administrative duty bending review.   It should be noted that the officer in question has a history of excessive force and has been sued a number of times for it.

Lynch added that the politicians are “still watering down our laws, releasing real criminals and discouraging proactive enforcement of fare evasion and quality of life issues.”

“As a result, our subways are in chaos and we have hero nurses getting mugged on their way to our hospitals,” he said, referring to a nurse who had her phone torn out of her hand in Times Square on April 26. “As the weather heats up and the pandemic continues to unravel our social fabric, police officers should be allowed to focus on our core public safety mission. If we don’t, the city will fall apart before our eyes.”

There are only so many police to go around.  They can either break up groups of people talking outside or they can stop real crimes that do significant harm to society.  The Mayor’s office wants the former, not the latter.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams also wants cops out of the social distancing business but for different reasons. He believes the process is racist.

“It has been two weeks since my office requested that the administration release demographic data on social distancing enforcement, and over a month since we cautioned against a response reliant on law enforcement rather than a more holistic community enforcement strategy,” he said. “Now, we see both why they have been resistant to our calls and why it is even more critical and urgent they address this selective enforcement against people and communities of more color.”

He said recent social distancing incidents — including a large Orthodox Jewish funeral service in Brooklyn — have made it clear that the same racial disparities that occurred in stop-and-frisk are happening with social distancing enforcement.

It’s good to see someone else, especially someone outside the Jewish community, call out the Mayor’s office for their selective enforcement of social distancing mandates on different communities.

This has been an utter disaster for the NYPD and city of New York.

Real, violent crimes are ignored by police, and property crime is through the roof.  The good people of New York are getting upset with the NYPD for their heavy-handed and officious enforcement of an executive order.

This is not making the city safer, it’s just making people feel like they live in a tyrannical dystopia.

It’s good to see the police union call out this terrible enforcement policy that undermines the social stability of the city.