They saw something and said something — only to watch the cops do next to nothing.
New Yorkers have called 311 with nearly 4,300 complaints of people not social-distancing — but the NYPD has issued fewer than two dozen summonses and made just three arrests, city data shows.
The kid-glove response was revealed as Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio remain worlds apart on the realities of social-distancing in the Big Apple.
“Frankly, there has been a laxness on social-distancing, especially over this past weekend,” Cuomo said at his daily press briefing in Albany as he extended the shutdown of non-essential businesses through April 29 and doubled fines to $1,000.
Gotham’s 311 system received 4,270 calls about crowds and gatherings between March 28 and April 5, but the NYPD issued just 21 tickets — at $500 each — and made three arrests for social-distancing violations during that same period.
Overall, the department has dropped the hammer with a paltry 30 summonses and five busts from March 17 through April 6, the department said.
A visibly irked Cuomo went off as spring weather has tempted cooped-up New Yorkers out of self-imposed isolation — at the risk of themselves and their neighbors.
“If you get infected [or] you infect someone else [or] you go to an emergency room, you put a burden on all sorts of other people who you don’t know and who, frankly, you don’t have the right to burden with your irresponsibility,” he said.
Hizzoner, however, painted a very different picture.
“We do not see a major compliance problem,” he said during a press briefing at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. “We have more work to do, but we’re getting the results we need.”
One issue on which the two leaders agreed, however, was the problem posed by funerals in the Hasidic Jewish enclaves of Brooklyn and Rockland County, which have continued to pack hundreds into tight quarters.
“They’re dangerous,” said de Blasio of the gatherings, vowing that the NYPD would “break them up immediately,” though it has failed to do so thus far.
Cuomo acknowledged the importance of services to “the grieving process,” but said they endanger public health.
“Now’s not the time to go to a funeral with 200 people,” he said. “It’s not about your life; you don’t have the right to risk someone else’s life.”
The pandemic’s strain on New York City’s public safety agencies grew even more apparent Monday as sources told The Post that the NYPD is rushing fresh 911 operators into service, which critics say could pose serious safety concerns.
The department has slashed training for 88 new operators from 65 days to 30, Local 1549, the union representing 1,500 operators and dispatchers said.
Twenty-four 911 workers have tested positive for the coronavirus, 33 others are self-quarantined at home awaiting results, and the service continues to field a historic call volume, union officials said.
But lower standards create a “dangerous situation,” said union vice president Alba Roper.
“If workers make mistakes with code, people can die,” added a longtime 911 operator and trainer.
“Our Communications Division is ensuring that all personnel — on every tour, every day — are equipped with the right training and we are confident they remain able to effectively handle and dispatch calls,” said an NYPD spokesman.
Additional reporting by Carl Campanile, Tina Moore and Bernadette Hogan