Mayor Bill de Blasio has it “all wrong” in charging the NYPD with policing social distancing, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said Wednesday, arguing that the plan will set back all gains made in cop-community relations.
“I told the mayor we have this all wrong, you shouldn’t have the police interacting with the community on this issue especially in neighborhoods where there is a history of tension between them,” Adams said Wednesday in an interview with The Post.
Instead, the former NYPD cop and 2021 mayoral hopeful called on community leaders to help educate the public on the guidelines and respond to calls.
“This is an issue of re-culturing the public, so we should use people who are known in the neighborhood like clergy, civic groups, block associations food pantry personal to deal with these problems,” he said. “When a 311 call comes into a local precinct they should be able to contact a group of civilians to address the call.”
Adams said the enforcement of wearing masks and keeping a safe distance apart should not include cops, except in the most egregious of situations — fearing the appearance could agitate an already fraught relationship in some communities with law enforcement.
The ex-cop accused the police of creating a “tale of two parks” during this pandemic — saying that the enforcement in the outer-borough parks has been starkly different than in Manhattan, “where we allowed mass groups to lounge out and get some sun.”
“This can’t be a city where we give out masks to one group and then punish another group for not wearing them,” Adams said in a video released Wednesday.
The call for a shift in enforcement comes just days after social media was flooded with a handful of violent arrests stemming from social distancing stops as the NYPD stepped up its patrols this past weekend, which led to at least a dozen arrests and more than 125 summonses since the start of May.
When asked about the concern Wednesday, Hizzoner said he’s had conversations with both Adams and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who’s called for demographic data on enforcement, and he understood, “the concern 100 percent.”
But the mayor said these incidents were rare, and that the NYPD’s mandate has been to “be consistent across all communities.”
“We’ll have a lot more to say on how we’re going to refine our approach, particularly with the warmer months,” de Blasio said.
The NYPD referred questions to City Hall.