SERGEANTS BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION POLICE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF

35 Worth Street, New York, NY 10013 212.226.2180 FAX 212.431.4280 www.sbanyc.org May 8, 2020

Edward D. Mullins President The Honorable Dermot F. Shea Police Commissioner Vincent Vallelong Police Department Vice President One Police Plaza New York, New York 10038 Paul Capotosto Treasurer Re: Objections to Social Distancing Enforcement John Dorst Recording Secretary Dear Commissioner Shea:

Anthony Borelli Financial Secretary We respectfully write on behalf of the more than five thousand active members of the New York City Sergeants Benevolent Association. As you are well Vincent Guida aware, we as a Department have been thrust into the epicenter of the COVID-19 Health & Welfare response. It goes without saying that you are also aware that the members of the NYPD put their life and oath on the line each day and night, pandemic or not. In

communicating with our members who serve at the frontline of the crisis, the uniform message we have received is that our membership lacks clarity on the extent of the NYPD’s role in enforcing Mayor de Blasio’s unprecedented social distancing guidelines The purpose of this letter is to seek further and refined guidance on how the Department expects its members to engage citizens who are not respecting the state and local social distancing guidelines.

Obviously, every enforcement situation brings its own set of evolving circumstances. The current sentiment from our membership is that without a clear set of guidelines on direct enforcement of state and city policy, their ability to effectively and fairly enforce social distancing guidelines leaves them in an uncertain position. As you know, the Mayor has already cited to racial disparity in the number of social distancing arrests in , and issued the hollow statement that “we will do better”. This morning, the Mayor announced that the City will “limit the number of people who enter parks” and “limit the amount of time spent there”. We have no clear idea how this new order is intended to be implemented, and foresee a repeat of the same enforcement difficulties we have already experienced, including a repeat of the allegations that my members have violated the civil rights of New Yorkers. To impute blame for racial disparity to the frontline officers attempting to enforce a vague and ambiguous Executive Order highlights our members’ concerns and is, quite frankly, offensive.

Further, we question the need to issue summons or make arrests unless the City’s District Attorneys clearly state that they will prosecute violations of social distancing guidelines. The Brooklyn DA has already announced “we cannot police our way out of this pandemic”. Why are we making any low-level and/or social distancing arrests in Brooklyn if the District Attorney will not prosecute them? As you know, arrests are rarely non-violent: my membership demands to know the rationale behind being ordered to make arrests – and risking injury to themselves and citizens – when those arrests will not result in a criminal prosecution. We need to know the justification for this self-defeating policy.

It is clear that the Mayor’s Office is operating under the unrealistic assumption that every New Yorker will understand and follow his Executive Order. That is certainly not our reality: to the contrary, we have experienced many instances where citizens either do not appreciate or simply refuse to follow social distancing guidelines. The physical enforcement of these guidelines has, not surprisingly, led to violent confrontations which never should have taken place. We do not believe it is in the City’s interests to order a law-abiding citizen who is not creating any public disturbance off a public street simply because he/she is not wearing a mask, and threatening him/her with arrest if they refuse. These encounters destroy the community relations the Department has worked hard to restore since the end of the stop and frisk debacle. And, as always, it is the officers involved who are vilified in the media. My membership does not believe the City will support their efforts to enforce these nebulous guidelines if, as will almost certainly happen, a citizen gets injured during these enforcement encounters.

This week the Mayor announced an end to public protests in the City. We do not believe such an order can be fairly enforced. Indeed, the SBA believes that such a sweeping prohibition against the rights embodied by the First Amendment is glaringly unconstitutional. If, for instance, you order frontline officers to threaten with arrest protestors who gather in Prospect Park to peacefully protest the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, we will follow that order believing that we are actively violating the First Amendment rights of those citizens. Should you require us to break up a protest by nurses and medical personnel at Montefiore Medical Center who are protesting the lack of PPE and who are holding signs and congregating in front of the hospital’s entrance, we will not willingly interfere with their right to do so. If MTA employees gather at a subway station in Bay Ridge to protest the City policies that have permitted the homeless crisis to manifest itself in the subway system, and the City’s delays in addressing the lack of sanitation which has led to more than one hundred CV-19 deaths, we do not believe stopping that protest is lawful. If city employees gather at Gracie Mansion to protest the Mayor’s threat to furlough essential workers and educators, we will only disrupt that protest if directly ordered to do so, knowing full well that our oath to enforce the law has been compromised by following an unconstitutional directive. The list of examples is endless, and we do not believe that we will be acting in the best interests of the City and its citizens by knowingly trampling their First Amendment rights.

More importantly, should the City Administration continue to order our members to enforce social distancing guidelines, we demand that the City confirm with Corporation Counsel that our members will be represented and indemnified by the City when the flood of lawsuits inevitably arrives, accusing our members of racially disparate policing and unconstitutional enforcement tactics. No SBA member should fear personal financial loss due to the enforcement of questionable social distancing guidelines.

As always, we welcome the opportunity to open the lines of communication on this essential issue for both our membership, all MOS, and the people of New York. Please contact me to discuss these matters in the spirit of cooperation between the Department, our SBA members, and all MOS during these challenging times.

Very truly yours,

Edward Mullins President

EM/ta cc: Ernest Hart, Esq. Deputy Commissioner of Legal Matters

Chief Kerry Sweet, Esq. Deputy Commissioner - Department Advocate’s Office

Chief Terence Monahan Office of the Chief of the Department

The Honorable James E. Johnson Corporation Counsel – City of New York

The Honorable Bronx District Attorney’s Office

The Honorable Kings County District Attorney’s Office

The Honorable Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. New York County District Attorney’s Office

The Honorable Melinda Katz County District Attorney’s Office

The Honorable Michael McMahon Richmond County District Attorney’s Office

Norman Siegel, Esq. – Executive Director New York Civil Liberties Union