Black residents are expressing concerns about racial double standards in the New York Police Department's social distancing enforcement efforts.

According to The New York Times, 35 of the 40 Brooklyn residents who were arrested for social distancing violations between March 17 and May 4 were Black. Four Hispanic people were also arrested during that time, and one arrested individual was white. 


While a third of the arrests were made in the mostly Black neighborhood of Brownsville, there were no arrests in the predominantly white Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope, The Times reported. Black people make up 34% of the overall Brooklyn population according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Given the disproportionate racial makeup of the arrests, the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office is refusing to prosecute the cases according to Spectrum News NY1. 

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a Brooklyn Democrat, said New York's policing tactics resemble the practices of stop-and-frisk.

“We can’t unleash a new era of overly aggressive policing of communities of color in the name of social distancing,” Jeffries said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said the social distancing guidelines don't compare with stop-and-frisk.

“What happened with stop-and-frisk was a systematic, oppressive, unconstitutional strategy that created a new problem much bigger than anything it purported to solve,” the mayor said at a news press conference on Thursday. “This is the farthest thing from that. This is addressing a pandemic. This is addressing the fact that lives are in danger all the time. By definition, our police department needs to be a part of that because safety is what they do.”

The mayor also went to Twitter to add to his thoughts.

"Saving lives in this pandemic is job one," he tweeted. "The NYPD uses summonses and arrests to do it. Most people practice social distancing, with only hundreds of summonses issued over 6 weeks. But the disparity in the numbers does NOT reflect our values. We HAVE TO do better and we WILL." 

As Blavity previously reported, a deli in the East Village became the scene of a violent arrest when officers approached two people for a social distancing violation, then arrested the pair on multiple charges. 

Cellphone video showed one of the officers knocking another man at the scene to the ground and sitting on him while another officer handcuffed him. De Blasio said the officer, Francisco Garcia, has been taken off of the street and an investigation is underway.


“What I saw was absolutely unacceptable, and obviously discipline was swift by the NYPD, but I want to note that video is more and more of a rarity,” de Blasio said.

Jeffries posted a video of another confrontation where police were arresting three people who didn't follow social distancing guidelines. 

"Police officers aggressively 'enforcing' social distancing in our community," he tweeted. "This occurred in East New York last evening. Why are sunbathers who violate social distancing guidelines treated one way and young men in certain communities another? This MUST end."

Police data shows at least 120 arrests have been made and almost 500 summonses have been issued for social distancing violations from March 16 to May 5. Richard J. Esposito, NYPD's deputy commissioner of public information, said Black residents account for 68% of the arrests, while Hispanic people account for 24%. 

Jumaane Williams, the city’s public advocate, said the enforcement must be equitable.

“To the extent that we are going to use police enforcement, which shouldn’t be where we go, it has to be equitable,” Williams said.

According to NBC News, residents in California have also expressed concerns about racial double standards in social distancing guidelines. Officers in San Diego were criticized for giving citations to protesters who sat in their cars on April 11 and advocated for improved conditions at the Otay Mesa Detention Facility, where several immigrants have COVID-19.

In Los Angeles, police have faced backlash for being overly aggressive while breaking up parties in minority neighborhoods. According to NBC News, one of those incidents happened in the predominantly Black Hyde Park neighborhood where officers used their batons to push Black residents who were celebrating the birthday of a 1-year-old baby. 

Police said the party in Hyde Park and another event in South Los Angeles on April 17 were broken up because of disturbance reports.

"The Los Angeles Police Department is consistent in the way we enforce the Mayor’s 'Safer at Home' Directive," LAPD spokesman Josh Rubenstein told NBC News. "[The South L.A. parties] were 'disturbance' calls for service and not random enforcement of the 'Safer at Home' directive."

coronavirusracist policeSocial-Distancing