NYPD Social Distance Enforcement Is Not Stop And Frisk: Mayor

NEW YORK CITY — Violent arrests over alleged social distancing violations cannot be compared to the notorious NYPD policy eventually ruled unconstitutional, Mayor Bill de Blasio argued Thursday.

"What happened with stop and frisk was a systematic, oppressive, unconstitutional strategy that created a new problem much bigger than anything it purported to solve," de Blasio said.

"This is the furthest thing from that. This is addressing a pandemic."

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De Blasio defended increased NYPD enforcement during the novel coronavirus pandemic as videos spurred outrage among New Yorkers who said the arrests evidenced racial disparities and among police officers who say they need better instructions on how to enforce the law.

One video shows a hoard of cops tackling a Brooklyn teen and another taken in Manhattan shows a police officer repeatedly punching one New Yorker.

Read More: Stop NYPD Social Distancing Enforcement, Says Borough Prez

Although Commissioner Dermot Shea condoned the officer's actions, noting, "a punch is something we actually train for in the police academy," de Blasio dismissed the incident as an isolated bad act.

"It's just inappropriate activity by an officer," de Blasio sad. "The vast majority of interactions between police and our community go well."

Arrests and summons have dropped 50 percent citywide during New York's COVID-19 stay-at-home order, Shea said during a Twitter question-and-Answer Thursday morning.

"I think that's exactly as it should be," said Shea. "From the start, I didn't want us to turn into the morality police."

The mayor declined to provide any specifics on future protocols for social distancing enforcement Thursday but promised they would come.

"We're going to make the protocols clearer and clearer," said de Blasio. "It will take time to get it better."

NYPD increased its enforcement of social distancing rules — which ask New Yorkers to keep six feet apart — after a rabbi's funeral drew thousands into the streets of Williamsburg last month and outraged the mayor.

De Blasio vowed arrests and summons would follow any New Yorker caught disobeying rules he says will save lives.

"I am not making my decisions on a very few interactions that went poorly," de Blasio said. "I'm not going to sacrifice saving lives because people are fearful of something that loomed in the past."

Read More: Most New Coronavirus Cases Hit NYers Who Say They Social Distance

The mayor will review data on social distancing summons Thursday and release it to the public Friday, he said.

The Mayor and NYPD will also soon announce plans to increase enforcement in certain city parks prone to overcrowding, de Blasio said.

"The things we're going to be intolerant of is larger gatherings," said de Blasio. "We're going to keep refining the protocol."

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