The Legal Aid Society released an analysis today of social distancing enforcement conducted by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) including COVID-19 related 311 complaints, summonses and arrests which reveals that New Yorkers of color overwhelmingly bear the brunt of this policing despite evidence that complaints about lack of social distancing are just as prevalent, and often more prevalent, in majority white neighborhood as they are in majority Black and Latino neighborhoods.

“The NYPD should not be engaged in enforcing social distancing measures — period,” Jennvine Wong, an attorney with The Legal Aid Society’s Cop Accountability Project, told the New York Daily News. “These are public health measures. They are not public health experts.”