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LAS Decries Increased NYPD Enforcement During COVID-19

As New York City continues to come to terms with growing uncertainty during a near-complete lockdown, the NYPD has taken to upping its enforcement tactics, and arresting New Yorkers for not obeying social distancing guidelines, as reported by The Intercept.

“It’s basically just setting up police encounters, and any police encounter does have some potential to escalate,” said Jennvine Wong, a staff attorney at The Legal Aid Society’s Cop Accountability Project. “One of the failings right now is the NYPD has not been communicating very clearly to the public what their role actually is in policing during this time. A lot of people are not very clear.”