NYPD’s ‘COVID-19 related’ arrest data reveals more racial disparities in Queens enforcement
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An NYPD officer wearing a mask patrols a subway station on April 30. AP Photo/John Minchillo
By David Brand
The stark racial disparities evident in the city’s social distancing arrest and summons data were echoed in yet another report published Tuesday by the NYPD, this time revealing that black and Latino New Yorkers account for nine of every 10 “COVID- 19 related arrests.”
The dataset incorporated 125 total arrests citywide — 22 were in Queens — for offenses tangentially related to the coronavirus crisis. The array of offenses include “altercations caused by jumping a line while waiting to enter a supermarket” and a bank robbery where a suspect allegedly slipped the teller a note that said “I have COVID,” the NYPD said in a statement accompanying the data.
Black New Yorkers accounted for more than three-quarters of the people arrested for these offenses in Queens between March 16 and May 10, according to the report. Citywide, 66.4 percent of arrestees were black while 24 percent were Hispanic, the NYPD said. Another 7.2 percent were white and 2.4 percent were Asian.
“These are not social distancing arrests,” the NYPD said in a statement. “Many were responses to calls for service where there was a clear victim and police took necessary action.”
The designation “COVID-19 related” was based on the “circumstances of occurrence, remarks made by the arrestee at the time of the alleged crime or afterward, or statements made by a victim,” the NYPD added.
The confusing data set prompted a rebuke from Legal Aid Society Special Litigation Unit head Corey Stoughton, who called the information “meaningless” with no explanation for the racial disparities.
“The release of this data is in no way responsive to demands from elected officials and community leaders for the NYPD to be more transparent about how it is policing social distancing requirements,” Stoughton said. “The NYPD's definition of ‘COVID-related’ in this data set is meaningless.”
The NYPD published the “COVID-19 related” arrest dataset four days after the department’s report on social distancing summonses as well as social distancing arrest information provided various local prosecutors’ offices revealed similar racial disparities.
Across New York City, 81 percent of 374 social distancing summonses went to Black and Latino New Yorkers between March 16 and May 5, the NYPD reported on May 8.
In Queens, more than half the summonses — 15 of 28 — were issued to Hispanic residents. Nine were issued to Asian/Pacific Islander residents, two were issued to black residents and two were issued to white residents, according to the NYPD data.
The vast majority of people arrested for violating social distancing orders in Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan were black, according to the four district attorneys’ offices. All four have declined to prosecute social distancing arrests.
Sixteen of 20 people arrested for social distancing offenses in Queens were black, according to ABC News.
In Brooklyn, black residents accounted for 35 of 40 arrests, The New York Times reported
“We HAVE TO do better and we WILL,” Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted in response to the Times report.
NYPD officers have used aggressive force to arrest New Yorkers of color for not practicing social distancing in encounters filmed by bystanders. Three people were arrested when cops broke up an impromptu memorial for late rapper King Shooter in Queensbridge Park on May 5.
“It’s all about equity for me,” said Southeast Queens Assemblymember Alicia Hyndman Thursday. “When you talk about the disproportionate enforcement in one community and not the other, when we realize all the disparities that existed before, let us not go back to that.”
