AG Letitia James asks NYPD for data on social distancing arrests
New York State Attorney General Letitia James. Credit: AP/Mary Altaffer
State Attorney General Letitia James asked the NYPD on Wednesday to give her coronavirus-related arrest data and other enforcement actions during the pandemic in answer to the department's "apparent unequal enforcement of social distancing policies."
As part of her request, which comes amid criticism that the NYPD's social distancing arrests have targeted minorities, James wants department rules on the practice, any 311 calls preceding such actions and data on arrests for failing to comply.
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea and his top commander pushed back Wednesday against critics' claims of racial profiling.
During a remote news conference with Mayor Bill de Blasio, Shea rejected the idea that his cops were engaged in “racist” policing in the face of a handful of videos showing officers grappling with suspects during confrontations that are being investigated by Internal Affairs.
“I as police commissioner will not stand for excessive force nor will I stand and defend indefensible actions, but I will also not have my police department called a racist police department,” said an angry Shea.
Critics contend that NYPD data showing 90% of those arrested were either black or Hispanic is proof that minorities have been targeted.
In a statement, James questioned the fairness of the police department's enforcement actions.
“The apparent unequal enforcement of social distancing policies is deeply troubling, and deepens the divide between law enforcement and the people they are tasked to protect,” James said. “It is inherently wrong to aggressively police one group of people, yet ignore another group that commits the same infraction. The NYPD must better ensure that a New Yorker’s race, color, and neighborhood does not determine how they are patrolled.”
NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan defended city cops' enforcement.
“No one was arrested just for social distancing, that is the key message,” Monahan said. “Every one of those arrests was for a crime that was committed.”
Monahan echoed a Tuesday police statement that said any COVID-19 arrests since March 16 involved separate and distinct crimes unrelated to social distancing. Police issue criminal summonses to violators of social distancing but don’t arrest them.
He said the arrests were described in police officer narratives as virus-related because they often involved a person coughing or spitting at someone and claiming they had coronavirus. In one robbery, a suspect assaulted and allegedly stole $500 from a woman in a check-cashing location after she asked him to put on a protective mask and criticized him for standing too close to her.
The chief released to Newsday the number of offenses charged in some 124 coronavirus-related arrests. He said the top charge in 44 of the arrests related to either obstruction of government administration or resisting arrest; nine were on felony assault charges; assaults in stores, 12; criminal possession of a weapon, 12; and four on charges of unlicensed sale of liquor or operation of an unlicensed social club. Additional arrests included charges of criminal possession of a weapon, illegal gambling and drug possession, Monahan said.
“The common denominator in each arrest narrative is that they refused to disburse and started to fight with us,” he said.
Many of the incidents were preceded by 311 calls from the community, Monahan said, such as residents complaining about large groups smoking marijuana openly in front of a nearby building. He added that “a lot” of calls came from the Williamsburg area, the place where cops have issued the most social distancing summonses. Details of all 311 calls weren’t available Wednesday.
Monahan acknowledged that social distancing enforcement went against the grain of policing and building community rapport.
“It is extremely frustrating when you go around breaking up funerals, breaking up parties … it is contrary to our police work,” the chief said, but added that it is something cops now have to do.
Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.
