Gripped by the coronavirus pandemic, New York City is experiencing the largest volume of emergency phone calls in its history. During a single day last month, the New York Times reported, dispatchers answered around seven thousand calls, even more than on September 11, 2001. With more than a hundred thousand cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the city, there is overwhelming demand for emergency medical workers — but not for law enforcement officers. New York City police are actually receiving fewer dispatches now than they were prior to the crisis.
After the city’s emergency social distancing measures took effect last month, reports of the seven most serious crimes, including robbery and assault, went down substantially. Still, in the weeks since the shutdown, New York City police officers have repeatedly restrained, arrested, and even assaulted New Yorkers attempting to navigate the tense atmosphere of enforced social distancing in the city.
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