Plan To 'Flood' Times Square With Cops Scrutinized After Shooting

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Mayor Bill de Blasio's pledge to send even more police into Times Square following the second shooting there in less than two months was met with gratitude and some skepticism by at least one local leader, who urged the city to tread carefully.

After Sunday's shooting, which injured a 21-year-old innocent bystander, the mayor on Monday promised swift action, vowing to "flood the zone" around Times Square with at least 50 more police officers.

Police officials said the unidentified gunman may have been a CD vendor — the same profession held by Farrakhan Muhammad, who allegedly injured three people in the May 8 shooting that rattled Times Square.

The new deployment comes on top of another initiative announced in April to send at least 80 officers into Midtown to help workers feel safe as they returned to their offices.

Some leaders had reservations at the time, including Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, who urged the NYPD to speak to residents before flooding the neighborhood with officers.

Fears of over-policing may have been validated within weeks: when a group of food vendors at Hudson Yards claimed they had been unlawfully ticketed by police in early May, the NYPD confirmed that the officers had been part of the mayor's recent deployment.

On Monday, Brewer praised the mayor's action, but told Patch that the new squad of officers should coordinate with the NYPD's existing Times Square unit, who are better versed in "the costume characters, the painted women, mascots, tourists, Broadway theater community, and workers" — not to mention, she said, "the First Amendment."

Times Square business group urged action

De Blasio's latest policing plan came at the urging of the Times Square Alliance, which promotes the area and advocates for its businesses. The Alliance's president, Tom Harris, told board members Monday morning that he had spoken personally with the mayor to "express my frustration" after the shooting, which "couldn't come at a worse moment" given the city's reopening, according to an internal email obtained by Patch.

"I laid out the three shootings in detail and explained that each was the culmination of lesser offenses unchallenged by the police due to a perceived hands-off policy for enforcement of minor issues and vending," Harris wrote.

De Blasio pledged to tackle the issue and "agreed that something could be piloted in Times Square as a model for the rest of the City," according to Harris.

Brewer, though, cautioned that enforcement against illegal street vendors is no longer supposed to be handled by NYPD — instead, it was transferred last year to the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, though the agency has just 40 inspectors for the entire city, according to Brewer.

"After the last shooting this agency should have enforced the vendor laws in Times Square and updated the community on the status of their investigation," Brewer added.

Other commentators, meanwhile, questioned how more police would stop future shootings, given the already-high visibility of the NYPD in Times Square.

City Hall did not immediately respond to a request for details about the so-called "Times Square Safety Action Plan," including which groups had helped shape it and whether police would be enforcing illegal vending.

In a statement, Harris, of the Times Square Alliance, argued that Sunday's shooting was "the result of policies that do not focus on the enforcement of lower level offenses and embolden would-be criminals to carry weapons."

"In addition, we would like the additional officers to be permanently assigned to the Times Square Unit so they have ownership in the community and learn the subtle nuances that make Times Square Times Square."

Related coverage:

• Before Sending Cops To Midtown, Talk To Neighbors, BP Tells NYPD
• Hudson Yards Vendors Say Cops Targeted Them Despite Mayor's Ban
  
• Footage Of Times Square Shooting Suspect Released By Police