The Legal Aid Society condemned the New York City Police Department (NYPD) for neglecting social distancing practices in response to a series of social media posts from the NYPD Patrol Borough Queens North showing officers “with their arms wrapped around restaurant workers or one another, standing shoulder to shoulder while carrying donated food or posing without face masks in front of a pile of seized drugs or confiscated weapons.”

Earlier this month, Legal Aid called on Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD to significantly reduce the number of officers on duty. According to reports, officers are still clustering in large groups while on patrol, which is dangerous for them and dangerous for the community members they interact with. With citywide criminal activity at a record low, the NYPD must reduce the number of officers on patrol and to keep them and their families safe from contracting and spreading COVID-19.

“It’s very frustrating because they’re being tasked with enforcing social distancing and making sure people are wearing masks, and yet they’re not engaging in the same practices,” Jennvine Wong, a staff attorney with the Cop Accountability Project at The Legal Aid Society, told the Queens Daily Eagle. “As first responders and police, there are certain aspects of their job that make it impossible for them to practice social distancing at all times. But they’re potentially bringing the virus into vulnerable communities,”