Police Commissioner Dermot Shea: Crime is Down; 52 members of NYPD with Coronavirus 1 hospitalized.

On March 20, 2020 NYC Police Commissioner Dermot Shea joined Mayor Bill de Blasio during his Covid-19 Emergency Response Press Conference.

Mr. Shea has been in the NYPD for 3 decades now and was appointed to Deputy Commissioner of Operations in 2014. In 2018 he was promoted to Chief of Detectives and in November 2019 he would rise to the job of Commissioner of the New York Police Department.

As per the Commissioner, crime in the city has come down over the past week as well as incoming calls to 911 contrary to the increase of calls for service concerning sick patients.

Commissioner Shea:

“Mr. Mayor. I’ll give you a brief overview of what we’re seeing throughout the city as it relates to the Police Department. In terms of crime in the city, we’ve seen a downturn and then about the last week since as with dealing with this crisis, as you see crowds disappearing on streets and other areas, that has translated to a decrease in crime. We’ve also seen a decrease in calls to 911 for service throughout the city. With one notable exception, calls for service regarding sick patients and that has seen obviously an increase as expected. “

“I want to thank the public and all the other city agencies, some of whom are sitting here, for the cooperation that has really been seamless as we’ve all come together to deal with this crisis, really as one city. Men and women of the Police Department, uniform and civilian, the message to the public is they are out there, they are out there in force, and they are there to keep people safe. Whether it’s at a school for kids to pick up lunches, whether it’s traffic agents, expediting ambulances to get to a hospital, the men and women of the Police Department remain committed to being out there. There has been a toll to this. As we look at the Police Department’s sick, we’ve seen a notable increase the last four days picking up. That is something that we are watching closely, but I will tell you that at this point we remain very well resourced to handle any and all obstacles that come our way. But we are watching that closely.”

The commissioner also made mention of the numbers of NYPD members who’ve tested positive for Coronavirus:

“As I sit here, the number is probably changing and it has changed throughout the last 24 hours. But we have at this point in time, 52 members of the NYPD that have tested positive for coronavirus. That ranges from civilian members to the executive level. The very good news is, only 1 out of 52 is hospitalized at this time and that’s hospitalized with pneumonia like symptoms. So, our hearts and prayers go out to the members and their families with that respect.“

Concerning the enforcement of Governor Cuomo’s ‘New York on PAUSE’ Executive Order:

“What are we doing now? We are paying extremely close attention, as the Mayor said, to areas where people are gathering for good reason. Grocery stores are at the top of our list. Grocery stores, hospitals, the schools and the many facilities in the board of ed that will be open for both children and for picking up breakfast and lunch. So, that remains a focus point in the next period going forward. In terms of the grocery stores and the bars and the restaurants with these new orders of closings. Certainly the, the food establishments and the grocery stores remain open, but we also ask for continued cooperation in terms of just managing any volumes of people.”

“The good news is we consider about 500 locations that I would categorize as large establishments throughout New York City. We have been to them all and we have not seen any major problems. We have issued very few summonses to any establishments because of the level of cooperation that we’ve seen.  so it’s about education, it’s about working with each other, and it’s about the social distancing that Dr. Barbot has been preaching now, seems like years, but it’s really about weeks. So, we will continue to work with the communities that we serve every day to keep continuing to spread that word. We ask for your continued cooperation at this time of certainly stress for all New Yorkers, but again, thank you for all the cooperation.”