The morning meeting of top
brass at 1 Police Plaza sounds
more like hospital executives
in the middle of a health
crisis.
One by one, various police
executives on Wednesday,
with the Daily News present,
br i e f e d N Y P D C o m m i s -
sioner Dermot Shea on the
key issues — how many cops
have coronavirus, how many
ot h e r s s h ow s y m p t o m s ,
who’s covering for them,
which stationhouses have
been professionally disin-
fected, and, most impor-
tantly, is the department as
ready as before the pan-
demic hit to do its job.
Ev e r y p r e c i n c t wo u l d
likely have 10% or more of its
officers out sick. “So let’s justlook at the worst of the worst
here and triage,” Shea told
the meeting.
Crime has dropped in the
pandemic — but it was not an
after-thought at this meet-
ing. Chief of Crime Control
Strategies Michael LiPetri —
who, like most at the meet-
ing, attended via telephone
—talked about shootings and
robberies.
Shea — at the head of a
conference room table, with
First Deputy Commissioner
Benjamin Tucker, Chief of
Department Terence Mona-
han and a handful of other
police brass and staffers —
worried about subway crime.
But coronavirus domi-
nated the conversation.
The numbers were bad
that day: 2,797 cops were out
sick, three times the usual
number, with 197 testingpositive for the virus. Thirty-
nine civilian employees also
tested positive.
But there was good news.
One of the sickened civilians,
aschool safety agent, was
due back at work Friday. So
was a sergeant. A class of
new sergeants was to be
sworn in Thursday. And
things were looking up at a
Brooklyn housing command
where a number of sick cops
were recovering.
But 40 cops were out sick
at a housing command in
lower Manhattan and two
de t e c t i v e s a s s i g n e d t o
Queens Special Victims had
tested positive, forcing nine
of their colleagues to be
quarantined. Chief of De-
tectives Rodney Harrison re-
placed them with investiga-
tors from other special vic-
tims squads.Chief of Support Services
Raymond Spinella had put
together what might have
be e n u n t h i n k a b l e t h r e e
months ago — a 660-cop task
force charged with enforcing
social distancing and min-
imizing crowds at parks,
pedestrian malls, and super-
markets.
There was talk about sub-
way overcrowding. Even as
ridership plunged, some
subway cars were still too
crowded, according to social
media posts.
“Let’s separate the fact
from the fiction,” Shea told
Transit Bureau Assistant
Ch i e f V i n c e n t C o o g a n.
“What’s the real story? Plug
the MTA into that, make
them part of the decision-
making process. If there is a
problem can they add other
lines? Is that necessary? Isthat an option? Or do we de-
fault to making people wait
for the next train?”
Shea told The News that
enforcing social distancing
could pose problems for the
police — especially as New
Yorkers spend more and
more days stuck in their
homes.
“I do not want the NYPD
to b e c o m e t h e m o r a l i t y
police,” Shea said. “What I do
not want it to come to is a
situation where we have kids
playing in a park and we’re
summonsing and arresting.”
He said he is imploring
elected officials and clergy to
join police to warn people
against gathering in groups,
whether in Central Park or at
house parties.
“The more we come to-
gether on this, the better for
everybody,” Shea said.Police Commissioner Dermot Shea (main) as
he (center above) meets at 1 Police Plaza
with top NYPD officials last week. The Daily
News was present at the session at which
cops with coronavirus were a major concern.LUIZ C. RIBEIRO/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWSVIRUS, & CRIME, TOO
Pandemic forces way to center stage as NYPD brass meet
BY ROCCO PARASCANDOLA
NEWS POLICE BUREAU CHIEFDAILY NEWSNYDailyNews.com Sunday, March 29, 2020 7
CORONAVIRUS